Thai Fish Cakes – Fraser's Food

Ingredients

For the fish cakes

600g/1lb 5oz salmon fillet, skin removed and cut into chunks

Or any chunky white fish is lovely too

1 large free-range egg

Optional: 30g corn flour to bind

2 tsp lemongrass paste

2 tbsp Thai red curry paste

Or instead of lemongrass and red curry paste, you can use Thai green curry paste

1 tbsp fish sauce

4 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded

100g/3½oz green beans, finely sliced

Optional: 1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander stem

1-calorie sunflower oil spray

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 limes, cut in half, to serve

For the salad (optional)

2 carrots (about 200g/7oz), peeled and cut into thin ribbons

200g/7oz cucumber, peeled and cut into thin ribbons

½ red onion, thinly sliced

12 radishes, thinly sliced

large handful of coriander, roughly chopped

60g/2¼oz mixed salad leaves

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Dipping sauce (optional)

50ml fish sauce

Juice and zest of 2 limes

2 teaspoons sugar

Clove of garlic

2 birds eye chillies (fresh)

Garnish with coriander leaves and sliced red chilli

Method

Put the salmon into a food processor with the egg, lemongrass paste, curry paste, fish sauce and lime leaves. Season with salt and pepper and blend until the mixture comes together but still has some texture. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the sliced beans. Cover and leave in the fridge until needed.

To make the salad, mix together the carrot, cucumber, red onion, radishes, coriander and mixed leaves in a large bowl.

To make the dipping sauce, simply blend together and season

Heat a large pan over a medium–high heat. Divide the fish cake mixture into eight equal-sized pieces and shape into patties. Spray a little oil into the pan and add four of the fish cakes, spacing them apart and flattening each one slightly. Cook for 2–3 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Set the cooked fish cakes aside on kitchen paper while you cook the remaining fish cakes.

Add the rice vinegar and soy sauce to the salad and mix well. Divide between serving plates and add two fish cakes and a lime half to each plate. Serve straight away.