So the other night when I was making the famous brussels sprouts, Neil was cooking up a salmon dish. I don’t eat salmon so needed something quick and easy to make when I arrived home at 6pm on a Friday night with company arriving at 7pm.
Friday morning I looked in the freezer and found some tilapia needing to be used up. In keeping with the Asian theme of the night, I thought of Asian fish cakes – which I know are easy to make and look like they are not – always a good thing for entertaining!
With no time to check recipe books that day, I Googled a bit and found this recipe, very similar to my mum’s. I made a couple of changes because I did not have all the ingredients (this seems to be a bit of a theme happening at our house of late – can you say “not enough hours in the day?”). Here’s my version of:
Thai-style fish cakes
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients (serves 4):
500g firm white fish fillets (such as tilapia), coarsely chopped
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves
35g (1/4 cup) cornflour
2 generous tablespoons curry paste (red or yellow)
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs sweet chili sauce
1 egg, lightly whisked
50g green beans, finely chopped
80ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
panko bread crumbs, to roll the cakes in
Sweet chili sauce, extra, to serve
Method
1. Place the fish in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Add the coriander, cornflour, fish sauce, sweet chili sauce, curry paste and egg, and process until well combined.
2. Transfer the fish mixture to a large bowl. Add the beans and stir until well combined.
3. Shape the mixture into small patties and coat in the panko crumbs. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.
4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook patties for approximately 4-6 minutes each side or until golden brown. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.
We used a little lime-ginger hot sauce to dip/ pour over the cakes and it worked fantastically:
And check out how pretty they are on the inside:
The different textures make this a taste sensation in your mouth – the crunchy panko, the soft fish and the crispy beans all work so well together. For my American friends celebrating Thanksgiving this week, you might be in need of a lighter dish by the weekend – I highly recommended this! For my non-US readers, well just make them. You won’t be sorry.
Cooeee, fishcakes are delicious! And easy as long as you don't overwork the mix (then they can tend to tough). Sydney Seafood School and they have evolved the recipe to take out the egg. Here's my post with egg http://insidecuisine.com/2009/10/thai-style-fish-cakes-redfish/
These sound so good Mardi! I have those panko breadcrumbs from the festival which I can put to use now 🙂
Oh wow, these look delicious! I'm pretty sure there's nothing you can't make! 🙂
I love fish cakes – the real thing, not the processed one sold in Asian supermarkets. Mardi, you're killing me…I'm pregnant and so very hungry at 8:30 in the morning!!
That sounds like my kinda dish!
This sounds a lot like my fish cake recipe, which reminds me I haven't made them for ages! I think summer will involve a few fishcake + salad nights. The problem with making delicious fishcakes yourself is that you can't order them out anymore as so often they are bland, overprocessed mushy monstrosities compared to lovely fresh homemade ones. These look delicious (anti-monstrosities).
These look scrumptious!
From Becca – what does taking out the egg do?
Diana – yay panko breadcrumbs!
Simply Life – you are TOO kind.
Jen – sorry!
Tasty Trix – yup!
Conor – glad you think they don't look like monstrosities!
Tasty Eats – they were.
Wonderful fish cakes here!
I'm not a fish person, but I always fall for any fry fish dish!
This one is definitely one of them. BTW, I love the chili paste addition too! A little spicy kick!
wow love fish cakes
this recipe is a great antidote to the glut of us thanksgiving recipes that are flooding the web right now- thanks!
What a great idea! We're always buying frozen tilapia from Trader Joe's for quick dinners and needed additional inspiration beyond quickly baking, poaching, or frying with panko flakes!
Cajun Chef Ryan – thanks!
lululu – I am not a fish person either but this tastes pretty good…
Chow and Chatter – thanks!
Linda – you are welcome.
high low – you would love these…
Sounds and looks delicious. I love the ginger sauce touch, yum.
home made fish cakes are the best! and they all look so golden brown. YummO!
Mary-Laure – it made a nice change to sweet chili sauce
Penny – I think you might even like these… though I would be nervous serving anything Asian to you…
This looks like a superb recipe, especially for those many days that I crave something crisp and fried!
we make vietnamese style fish cakes, but mostly with paste…love how these are more coarse in texture
I made these for a Chinese New Year party – doubled the recipe and made small patties. They were the hit of the party. Great recipe – thanks.
I am so glad you enjoyed them!