Dip in to fishcake flavours
Asian cuisine is delicious, healthy, and bursting with taste
THE FOODS OF East and Southeast Asia are amongst the freshest, most vibrant, and most flavoursome in the world. Not only are they delicious, healthy, and bursting with taste, but as densely populated regions they provide a huge variety of unique cuisines, including Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean.
The Asian Kitchen prizes tender meats and fiery sauces which make the most of the fascinating local flavours found in the relevant regions. These cuisines are also naturally abundant in vegetables; making many of these recipes ideal for vegetarians and vegans who want to enjoy the lively aromas of Asian food without missing out on flavours.
THAI FISHCAKES
No potatoes or egg are used in these fishcakes and the resulting tough-but-tasty skin formed upon cooking is delicious.
Ingredients
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 red chilli
2 onions, chopped
1 tsp chilli powder
1⁄2 tsp ground cumin
1⁄2 tsp ground coriander
50g fresh ginger, peeled and grated 1 tsp tamarind paste grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp fish sauce
400g white fish fillet (such as hake, pollock, whiting or cod), chopped into 2cm pieces vegetable oil, for frying
For the dipping sauce : 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 Tbsp sesame oil, 1 Tbsp fish sauce, freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime, 1⁄2 carrot finely diced, 1⁄2 cucumber finely diced
Method
Begin by making the dipping sauce. Heat the sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and fish sauce in a saucepan set over a medium heat. Remove from the heat and let cool, before adding the lime juice, carrot and cucumber. Set aside until ready to serve.
Put the garlic, chilli and onions in a food processor or blender and pulse until finely chopped and combined. Add the spices, ginger, tamarind, lime zest and juice and fish sauce, and pulse again to combine. Finally, add the fish pieces and pulse briefly until fully combined – it should be the texture of a thick porridge. Don’t over-blend the mixture once the fish has been added as it can easily become a paste.
Heat a little vegetable oil in a saucepan set over a medium heat. Scoop tablespoonfuls of the mixture into the hot pan. After about a minute, flip the fishcakes over and cook for a further minute, until golden brown. Serve warm with the dipping sauce.