Thai Fish Cakes with Crunchy Raw Salad

To make really great fish cakes I recommend making your own red chilli paste.

Chilli Paste

Red Chilli 3 deseeded

Green Chilli 3 deseeded

Eschallot small 3 finely chopped

Garlic 3 cloves

Lemongrass 1 stalk

Galangal 1 tspn chopped finely

Coriander roots 2

Lime leaves 1 tspn finely chopped

Shrimp Paste 1 tspn

Black Pepper 1 tspn

Water 3 tbspn

In a mortar and pestle or food processor blend all ingredients together to make a paste, adding a little water to get things moving.

Fish cakes

Snapper fillet 300g

Egg 1

Chilli paste all of above

Fish sauce 3 tbspn

Palm sugar 2 tspn

Lime leaves 6 finely chopped

Green beans 50g very finely sliced

Peanut or Saflower oil 1litre for frying

In a food processor, blend together all of the ingredients, minus the frying oil, lime leaves and green beans. Blend until a sticky mass and then transfer to a large bowl, add in lime leaves and chopped beans. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Heat up your oil in preparation for deep frying. Form little cakes from scoops of fish cake mix and lay out on a surface before lowering into frying oil and cooking until golden.

Cucumber Relish

 

White vinegar or rice vinegar 60ml

Water 60ml

Palm sugar 3 tbspn

Coriander root 1

Garlic 1 clove

Sea salt pinch

Ginger 1 tspn finely chopped

Green Chilli deseeded chopped

In a saucepan heat all the ingredients, minus the ginger and chilli, bring to boil and cool. Add in remaining ingredients before serving in a bowl.

©Eco Living Magazine.