Thai-Jewish Fusion Fish Cakes Update with Pictures

Mmm, fish cakes.  I made these tonight because my host mom’s parents were visiting, and, upon request, took pictures.  (Recipe here.)  Changes I made to the recipe were to sub the ground fish for half a kilo fresh cod (who can pass up fresh fish on fish Friday at the market?) which was a bit annoying to mash up and didn’t hold its form as well, but tasted delicious. Also my red cabbage went bad so I made a salad out of mixed greens, beets (leave these out, the taste was a bit strong for the meal but we have a lot of them so I thought I’d throw one in,) carrots, red peppers, and red onion.  Other than that, I did everything the same. =]

Pictures are as follows: everything mixed and lined up to fry, one fish cake, six fish cakes, flipped fish cakes, sauce, salad, my dinner.

-Ariel

Thai-Jewish Fusion Fish Cakes

Yes, that’s right.  Thai-Jewish Fusion Fish Cakes.  It’s like a latke and a thai fish cake all in one!  No, really.  It’s actually quite delicious, trust me.  Everyone loved them.

This recipe is the result of ground fish being the only meat in the freezer, and me being too lazy to go grocery shopping for dinner.  Instead I read a bunch of recipes online for fish cakes and they all either had bad reviews or looked like more work than I was willing to put in, so I took the parts I liked and made my own.  This entire meal can be prepared a day (maybe two?  Not sure on that, it probably depends on how fresh the fish is) in advance, and then refrigerated until ready to fry (or cooked immediately, whatever.)  Also, while I didnt have any problems with my fish cakes sticking together, because there is no actual egg in the mix if they aren’t holding their form when shaped I’d suggest adding a drop of flour or breadcrumbs to the mix to dry them up a bit.  =]

Thai-Jewish Fusion Fish Cakes

Ingredients:

• 500g ground white fish (sorry, I have no idea what the US equivalent is, probably like 2/2.5 cups.  Or just buy 3 or 4 filets and mash them yourself.  Probably close enough to the same amount.)
• 5-6 small potatoes or 3 larger ones, mashed
• 1-2 chili peppers, thinly chopped (I used one, de-seeded and thought the flavor did not come through very strongly)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• Half a medium sized purple onion, thinly chopped
• 2ish tsp Thai oyster sauce
• 2ish tsp coriander seasoning (the seeds, though fresh leaves/aka cilantro might also taste good)
• also one egg and some flour or breadcrumbs for frying.

Cook:

1. Boil until soft, drain, then mash the potatoes in a pot.  Chop vegetables while this is boiling.
2. Mix in vegetables, seasonings, oyster sauce and fish together with potatoes.
3. Set out a bowl with one beaten egg in it, another with breadcrumbs or flour in it, and pour a good amount of oil into a frying pan.  Pre-heat on medium-high.
4. Shape the fish cakes, dip in egg mixture, cover in bread crumbs, then place in fryer for about 2-3 minutes on each side (if patties are small.  If patties are larger, yield another couple minutes.)
5. When fish cakes are don, place on paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

Serve:

• I’d suggest serving the fish cakes over a bed of red cabbage salad (chop: red cabbage, red onion, carrots, red bell peppers.  Dress lightly with lemon juice, salt and pepper.)
• I’d also suggest making a sauce to drizzle over the fish cakes and salad.  Somewhere between a deciliter and a cup of soy sauce, add vinegar to taste, a clove of chopped garlic, some crushed chili pepper flakes, maybe some chopped/dried/or powdered onion, and any other seasonings to suit your taste.  This sauce is generally best if allowed to sit in the refrigerator for a day to absorb the flavors.
• And lastly, I ate the fish cakes cold out of the refrigerator for breakfast with a side of sour cream (yes, I am that jewish) and they were still delicious.

-Ariel

Edit:  Here is the link to where you can find pictures of the fish cakes  =]