Seven-Star Fish Balls

Seven-Star Fish Balls

　　Seven-Star Fish Balls are one of Fujian’s famous soup dishes. They are made primarily from fish, lean pork, and dried shrimp. The snow-white fish balls, each about the size of a walnut, float on the steaming surface of the soup, resembling stars scattered across the sky. Hence, overseas Chinese call them “Seven-Star Fish Balls.” Fuzhou’s “Seven-Star Fish Balls” are well known for their snow-white color, springy yet not greasy texture, fragrant and fluffy filling, and sweet, smooth taste.

　　There is a legend about Seven-Star Fish Balls: In ancient times, there was a fisherman living by the Min River. One day, a merchant boarded his boat to travel south for business. When the boat exited the mouth of the Min River and entered the sea, it encountered a typhoon. While taking shelter in a harbor, the boat unfortunately hit a reef and was damaged. The repairs took time, food ran out, and they had to eat fish every day. The merchant sighed, “Fish every day—it’s getting tiresome. Can’t we have something else?” The fisherman’s wife replied, “We’ve run out of food, but we still have a bag of starch.” The clever and skilled fisherman’s wife then took a large mackerel they had just caught, removed the skin and bones, minced the flesh, mixed it with starch, shaped it into balls, and boiled them. To their surprise, they had a unique and delicious flavor. Later, the merchant returned to Fuzhou and opened a “Seven-Star Snack Shop” in the city, hiring the fisherman’s wife as the chef to exclusively serve “Fish Ball Soup.” At first, business wasn’t booming. One day, a scholar on his way to the capital to take the imperial exams stopped by the shop for a meal. The shop owner warmly welcomed him and served the fish balls. The scholar found them extremely tasty and composed a poem: “Dots of stars are sparsely strewn in the sky, / Sweet dew and fragrance enchant the traveler’s eye. / Though southern lands boast drinks through the ages, / None match the Seven Stars that stir poetic rage.” The shop owner hung the poem in the store, drawing many guests to admire it. From then on, business flourished, and the little shop thrived daily. The “Seven-Star Fish Balls” also gained their name from that moment on.