DIY Fishball Sauce

I've had the best fishballs in UP Diliman. Their fishballs being the commercially available ones, I cannot really say that taste-wise, they're any different from the rest. What's markedly different about them is that vendors there take pains in keeping their stalls clean and their food sanitary. It's a bonus that they also have very good dipping sauce which they keep pristine by serving the fishballs in elongated cardboard containers and only pouring the sauce over the fishballs in that container. Practically no dipping. Anywhere else, I always have my reservations buying these delicious deep-fried little morsels. Especially when I see people double dip their half-eaten stick of fishballs in the sauce containers. Yuck.

I do not go to UP as much as I did a couple of years ago and I really miss having my favorite street food there. And since I really can't eat them anywhere else, I've missed having it altogether. Good thing that I can buy fishballs from the market, in which case, I can just fry them at home.

As for the dipping sauce, I've learned to make my own at home. At home I can be sure what goes in the sauce. It's just as good as the street version. Plus, I can double dip all I want.

Fishball Sauce

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. water
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. all purpose flour
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 small red onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 siling labuyo (red chili pepper), sliced

Procedure:

In a sauce pan, dissolve cornstarch, flour, and brown sugar in water. Stir in soy sauce. Put pan on the stove and bring to a boil. Add red onion, garlic, and siling labuyo. Omit the chili if you prefer a sweet rather than a spicy dipping sauce. Reduce heat. Stir constantly to prevent scorching. Simmer until sauce thickens.