Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 18 cakes (approx)
Ingredients
600g of white fish, such as cod or haddock
3 tbsp nam plaa fish sauce
2 tbsp red curry paste
1 egg
10 kaffir lime leaves
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
120g thin green beans, sliced very finely
Vegetable oil for frying
Cucumber relish
120ml rice vinegar
100g sugar
2 Cucumber, thinly sliced
2 tbsp fresh root ginger, finely chopped
6 shallots finely diced
2 cloves garlic
1 Birdseye chilli finely diced
2 tbsp boiling water
pinch of salt
Instructions:
For the relish
Peel the cucumber and slice very finely (on a grater or with a vegetable peeler)
Peel the shallots and cut in half and slice very finely too
Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and water. Bring to the boil and stir to dissolve
Taste, modify if necessary. Allow to cool
Combine the chopped chilli, cucumber, garlic, ginger and shallots. Set aside. Pour the vinegar mixture over the ingredients
For the cakes
Take the veins out of the Kaffir lime leaves, and put into a food processor, blend to chop finely
Add in the rest of the ingredients (fish sauce, red curry paste, sugar, egg, and coriander) except for the green beans and blend to mix thoroughly. (It is a good idea to fry a little bit of the mix at this stage to check that you are happy with the flavour)
If you are happy with the flavour, remove from the bowl and mix in the green beans
Shape into small flat cakes, about ½ inch thick. You will find the mixture sticky to work with, so if you wet your hands it is easier
Heat about an inch of sunflower/vegetable oil in a frying pan. Shallow fry for 2 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm in the oven. These can be deep fried or oven baked too.
Serve the fish cakes with the cucumber relish
Another lovely cheat’s sauce for these is sweet chilli sauce mixed with sour cream and chopped fresh coriander.
Tags: Monthly Recipe, Recipes, Thai Fish Cakes
