Fish Paste (Chả cá)

I love fish paste or Chả cá. Most Vietnamese grocery stores carry fish paste. I do not live close to a Vietnamese town; therefore, when I like to prepare a meal with this ingredient, I seldom skip it. After I had gone through many Vietnamese food blogs, I now finally can prepare fish paste at home, and it is so easy to prepare, too. I just want to thank all the wonderful cooks for creating many good recipes and sharing them with all of us. Cooking for me is a way to express love to friends and family. Serving a nice meal or cake to friends is a good thing.

Ingredients:
2 lbs fresh tilapia fillets, (I purchase them at Costco)
1/4 cup cornstarch or potato starch
1 tbs baking powder
1/4  cup water
1 tsp salt
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tsp white pepper
1 tbs sugar
1/2 cup white onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup flavor oil from making crispy shallot



Directions:
Wash and dry fish well. Cut them into bite-size pieces and place them with garlic and chopped onions into a Ziploc or container with a lid.
In a small bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients listed above and mix well. Pour this cornstarch mixture into the container with the fish and mix well. (NOTE:  I prefer to marinate this new mixture in the refrigerator overnight, and the next morning I then transfer the now-marinated mixture into the freezer to become partially frozen before completing the paste making process in the next step).
In insert if intensive step a food processor, add the partially-frozen fish mixture. Run the food processor for a few seconds and then stop for a few seconds. Keep repeating this process until the fish mixture turns into a crunchy paste (traditionally, this paste was made using a mortar and pestle, and although the modern food processor has eliminated this labor-intensive step of paste making, it is important not to overheat the motor)Add flavor oil during the process.  Divide the paste and put in a container with lid. Freeze well.\