Thai-style fish cakes with cucumber relish

Name: Thai-style fish cakes with cucumber relish
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: 4 as an entree or as part of a shared Asian banquet
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 300g redfish or other cheap white-fleshed fish; 3 tbsp red curry paste; 1 egg; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 1 tsp castor sugar; 5 makrut lime leaves, shredded finely; 2 snake beans, cut into fine rounds; 4 cups vegetable oil, for deep frying

Neil Perry

September 10, 2020

Asian flavours galore: Thai-style fish cakes with cucumber relish.William Meppem

Time:30 mins - 1 hourServes:4 as an entree or as part of a shared Asian banquet

Enjoy Asian flavours galore with Thai fish cakes.

Ingredients

300g redfish or other cheap white-fleshed fish
3 tbsp red curry paste
1 egg
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp castor sugar
5 makrut lime leaves, shredded finely
2 snake beans, cut into fine rounds
4 cups vegetable oil, for deep frying

Cucumber relish

3 tbsp coconut vinegar
3 tbsp castor sugar
4 tbsp water
sea salt
1 small cucumber, cut in half lengthways, then cut into ½cm half moons
4 red shallots, each cut into 6 pieces
1 cm piece ginger, julienned
1 long fresh red chilli, split, seeds removed, julienned
2 tbsp fresh coriander, leaves washed and dried, plus extra to garnish

Method

To make relish, combine vinegar, sugar, water and salt in a small pan. Bring to boil and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. It will taste sweet and sour. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over liquid.
Place fish, curry paste, egg, fish sauce and castor sugar in a food processor and blend well. To give fish cakes their texture, scoop mix up and throw it back into bowl several times until sticky; this is an important part of process. Add lime leaves and beans.
Mould mixture into disks measuring 5cm by 1cm thick. In a wok, heat oil to medium heat and deep-fry cakes for about 4-5 minutes or until golden.
Serve fish cakes immediately with relish on side, garnished with extra coriander leaves.