By now most of you will have figured out how my "style " of cookery works, take the freshest of fish, don't mess with things to much, keep the flavours clean and simple, enjoy the preparation and cooking as much as the eating, And these little Thai Fish cakes are just that, from the making of the Thai paste, with all those spicy aromas floating around the kitchen, makes your mouth water before you've even begun to make the fish cakes!! To the simplicity of the dipping sauce that you just know is going to lift these beauties to an even higher flavour heaven, Now you can if you want, buy a good quality Thai Paste in any supermarket, but please give this a go, you'll regret it if you don't, the aroma you'll get is fantastic and you'll be using it everyday for a week because you won't be able to resist!!!!
So for the Thai Paste you'll need
1 splash of Rapeseed oil
Good pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of turmeric
2 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of shrimp paste ( supermarket will have it)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
6 Red chillies
1 inch peeled piece of fresh ginger
8 peeled garlic cloves
2 lemon grass stalk roughly chopped
Method
Here's the difficult bit! Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz to a paste! 3 minutes and done!!
For the Fish Cakes
Shopping list
250g of Pollack, skinned and cut into chunks 250g Salmon, skinned and cut into chunks Good splash of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of your homemade Thai paste
1/2 a lime zest
1 egg
Good pinch of caster sugar
Handful of chopped coriander
50g of chopped fine beans (optional)
For the dipping sauce
Shopping list
50ml white wine vinegar
100g caster sugar
Good splash of fish sauce
Good splash of water
2 red chillies finely sliced
Method
1. Make the dipping sauce by bring the vinegar, sugar and water to the boil for 1 minute, remove from the heat and add the fish sauce and chilli, allow to cool
For the Fish Cakes
1. Put the fish, Thai paste, lime zest, coriander, egg, sugar and a good pinch of salt into a food processor, blitz till smooth, turn out into a bowl and stir in the beans if using 2. Divide the mix into 8 balls, press lightly and shape into rounds 3. Heat a non stick pan, add a little oil and cook for 2 minutes on each side until golden 4. Lift out and drain off any excess oil 5. Serve with your dipping sauce
So, so easy, you can make small ones if you want and serve them as a canapé, try cooking them on a BBQ, you can even cook them under the grill or oven bake them Everything about these is simple, but packed full of flavour