INTRODUCTION

If my fish cakes are thinner, that will be perfect… Well, I used my best judgement to shape the fish cake and my judgement seemed to be wrong only when I took picture that I realized it was too thick..

I have done my best and the taste was very close and I am sure readers will not penalize me for the thickness.

To me, this is a very simple recipe though I have prepared my fish paste from scratch which took a bit more time. There are many ready made fish paste in the supermarket but I have opted out to use the ready made paste as I found that it is always too salty to my liking.

I spent S$11 to buy a mackerel (ikan batang/ikan tenggiri), I scrapped out all the meat and for the bones, I added some ginger and spring onion, boiled into fish broth and make into fish porridge.. With this fish, I managed to churn out 12 big fish cakes that have no flour but pure fish meats.

This fish cake is well liked by many in the region. I think it is popular because it has a friendly and unique taste.. It is commonly served as appetizer in the Thai restaurant.. With kids around, I usually ordered these fish cakes for them..

This recipe requires the use of Thai red curry paste as in the picture above. I did not buy because it is a big tub and it can be very spicy that my kids may not be able to appreciate it. I have therefore used my homemade versatile sambal recipe.

When I checked the ingredients of the authentic Thai red curry paste recipe, the ingredients are almost the same: red chilli, coriander roots, galangal, lemon grass, garlics, ginger, shallots, cumin and kaffir lime rind. The only thing that is not in my sambal recipe is the kaffir lime rind but since i am using fresh kaffir lime leaves, I believed the taste will not be far off.

If you are interested in the homemade sambal recipe, you can refer to this post: Vegetarian Sambal Recipe (素叁峇（辣椒酱）食谱）. Though the recipe is vegetarian, you can just add shallots and garlics to the recipe and it will become non vegetarian. You can prepare a tub and put in the fridge for emergency cooking purposes.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: About 15 pieces of Thai fish cakes

• 500 grams of fish flesh of your choice (I used mackerel)
• 1 egg
• 10 kaffir lime leaves
• 20 Thai basil leaves (optional)
• 1 tablespoon of white sugar
• 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 2 long beans or 4 French beans
• 2 tablespoons of Thai red curry paste

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Cut the long beans or French beans into very thin pieces. Thick pieces of long beans may hinder the overall the texture of the dish. In addition, it is more difficult to get cooked if pieces are too thick. Set aside.

• Mince the kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil leaves as fine as possible. Set aside.

• Scrap out the flesh from the fish and transfer to a food processor. Blend for 1-2 minutes until as fine as possible. If you find that the flesh is too dry, you can add one ice cube to facilitate the blending.

• Add the eggs, fish sauce, Thai red curry paste and sugar. Continue to blend until it forms a paste.

• Transfer out to a bowl and add the kaffir lime leaves and chopped beans. Stir in one direction until well combined.

• Wet your hand with a bit of oil, take some fish paste, shape round and  pressed tightly (5mm thickness) until it forms a saucer shape. Set aside and perform the same for the remaining fish paste.

• In a pan, put about 3 cm tall of cooking oil, pan fry the fish cakes until both sides are golden brown. If you wish, you can also opt for deep frying instead of pan frying. Drained and best eaten with Thai sweet chilli sauce.

CONCLUSION

If you do not have food processor, you can also use a standing mixer to beat the fish meat.. Traditionally, this was done either using a pestle and mortar or the back of a knife. Any fish can be used and ask the fish seller what type of fish are economical to make fish balls. They are able to recommend you. Some recipes even called for the use of cod which I think is totally a waste. Fish seller will advise you the type of fish that do not have much bones, lots of meat and economical.. Do give it a try and let me know if it suits your taste buds.

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