Thai Cod Fishcakes

We love Thai food, but with the local produce we have it’s not often we get to spice things up. This is a great way to jazz up fishcakes with some more interesting flavours.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 4)

•400g white potatoes

•500g cod fillets

•500ml full fat milk

•2 bay leaves

•1 stick of lemongrass (give it a bash with

the blunt side of your knife)

•1 fish stock cube

•3 spring onions, sliced

•1 small red chilli

•1 garlic clove, crushed

•A handful of fresh parsley

•A handful of fresh coriander

•1 tbsp Thai red curry paste

•Juice and zest of 1 lime

•50g flour

•2 eggs, beaten

•Salt and pepper

FOR THE BREADCRUMBS::

•3 slices of white bread •Zest of 1 lime

•Vegetable oil, to deep-fry

METHOD

1. Peel and chop your potatoes into large chunks, then put into a pan and cover with cold water. Add two pinches of salt, bring to the boil and then simmer until soft. Drain and let them steam dry.

2. While your potatoes are cooking, place the cod into a large pan or frying pan, and cover with milk. Add your bay leaves, lemongrass, salt and pepper and simmer very gently until the fish flakes apart. Make sure that the milk doesn’t boil, as it can separate very easily. Drain the fish into a colander over the sink, making sure you push the fish down to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Bin the bay leaves and lemongrass.

3. Put your stock cube in a small mug and dissolve it in a tablespoon of boiling water to get a runny paste. Add the paste into the drained potatoes and mash. Once you’ve got rid of all the lumps, mix in the fish, spring onions, chilli, garlic, parsley, coriander, curry paste, lime juice and zest. Mix it all together until everything is combined, then taste for a good balance of flavours and add more of anything – chilli, lime, herbs – you’d like.

4. Put the bread into a food processor and whizz until you have fine textured crumbs. Stir in the lime zest. Place your flour in one bowl, beaten eggs in another and breadcrumbs into a third, and season each bowl with salt and pepper. Roll the fishcakes into eight balls, and dip them into the flour, then the eggs, then the breadcrumbs. Make sure the fishcakes are fully coated at each point. 5. We deep-fry our fishcakes but you can easily pan-fry them if you prefer. If you are deep-frying, then heat the vegetable oil to 180°C in a large pan or deep fat fryer

– you need enough oil to fully submerge at least one fishcake. Carefully drop a couple of fishcakes into the oil and fry until the breadcrumbs are crispy and golden brown and the fishcakes start to float – around five minutes. Remove with a slotted metal spoon and drain on kitchen roll. Repeat with the remaining fishcakes. If you are pan-frying them, heat plenty of vegetable oil and fry your fishcakes for around five minutes on each side until they are crispy and golden brown all over – we usually flatten them a bit to speed up the cooking time.

TIP: To freeze, wrap the breadcrumbed, uncooked fishcakes individually and defrost fully before frying.