Thai Fried Fish Cake Recipe

RECIPE AND PHOTO BY: Taste Hong Kong

Ingredients:
~200g white fish fillet
1/2 tsp corn starch or potato starch
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tsp water
2 sprigs of cilantro (stem), finely chopped
2 lime leaves, roll up and shred like this
2 tbsp cooking oil
1-2 red chilies, thinly sliced, optional

Seasonings:
1/4 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp brown or shaved palm sugar
1 tbsp red curry paste
1/8 tsp ground white pepper

Method:
Defrost fish fillet, skin (if any), clean, pat dry, cut into chunks. In a food processor, add corn starch, sea salt, water and process fish fillets until smooth, about half to one minute. You may need to stop the processor once or twice to scrape down the meat to process thoroughly.

Transfer to a big bowl. Using a wooden spoon (I use a pair of chopsticks), stir the fish paste in one direction until the lumps are bouncy. It is important to do the stirring in ONE DIRECTION, about 10 minutes, or the meat won’t turn bouncy. If you work with a larger amount of meat, you may try moist your hand and kneading it like a dough in a bowl, again until it appears bouncy.

Add in seasonings, chopped corianders, shredded lime leaves and mix well. Using two greased spoons (if using moistened hand, be careful of the chili may cause hotness), form heaping tablespoonfuls of fish paste and flatten into thick discs.

Heat pan and oil over medium heat, when the oil looks slightly wavy, regulate flame to low. Lay fish paste onto the pan one by one. If you know you could work fast, just grease a spoon and scoop out the fish paste directly onto the heated pan, and flatten each by spoon, or spatula, or turner (whichever, oil it a bit before touching the paste).

Do not move patties until the downsides turn golden browned, about 3 minutes. Then, lift and flip patties, brown the other sides until done. Red curry pastes differ in saltiness, so you may want to sample frying one small patty before doing the whole batch. To increase hotness, add one or more sliced red chilies to your liking.

Serve hot with chili sauce, or Thai hot and sour sauce, or this homemade lime and garlic dressing.