Thai Fish Cakes

These Thai Fish Cakes are just like the traditional ones sold on the streets in Thailand. Red curry paste gives them a punch of flavour and the right amount of heat while the beans provide crunch. The spongy texture is achieved by using a food processor to finely chop the ingredients.

The finishing touch is sweet chili dipping sauce. It brings down the heat and completes the flavour explosion in your mouth.

Store Bought vs Homemade Curry Paste

Red Curry Paste is commonly combined with fish curries and recipes like these fish cakes. Yellow curry paste goes with chicken dishes and green curry paste with pork.

Any variety of curry paste can be made at home. The only catch is that you may need as many as 13 ingredients to make it. Store bought curry paste is gluten free and can easily be purchased online and in Asian markets.

• Cock brand curry pastes come in red, yellow, green and more.
• Mae Ploy brand also has a selection of curry pastes.

I like to have store bought curry paste in my fridge, often both yellow and red. Curry paste will last for more than a year but I'm always looking for new recipes to use it up.

In my house we’ve decided that two tablespoons of red curry paste is plenty hot enough for us. Always taste your food and decide what's the right heat factor for your taste buds.

Yardlong Beans

I use regular green beans to make this recipe. In Thailand fish cakes are typically made with yardlong beans. These beans are also called, Chinese long beans, asparagus beans or snake beans. They can grow to a yard but are more commonly picked when about one and a half feet long.

Different varieties of long beans are available in Asians markets but regular green beans provide the intended crunch.

Sweet Chile Sauce

Sweet chile sauce is the dipping sauce that goes with these fish cakes. There are many brands available, often labeled Sweet Thai Chile Sauce. It should be gluten free but always read the label. The brand, A Taste Of Thai, says gluten free on the bottle.

Don't substitute a fiery hot sauce like Sriracha or sambal oelek, the sweet chile sauce is key to this recipe.

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Get The Tools

The best kitchen tool for making fish cakes is an ice cream scoop or portion scoop. They make the job easy and make uniform sized fish cakes that cook evenly and look nice. I have three sizes of scoops and use them for everything from cookies to meatballs.

I have always made this recipe using my Cuisinart food processor. If you don't have a food processor it's possible to finely cut the fish by hand. This won't give the unique spongy texture of Thai fish cakes but they'll still be delicious.

I’d love to hear in the comments below if you tried these fish cakes and what you thought.

More Thai Recipes

• Dinner Club: A Thai Menu
• Introduction To Thai Ingredients

Thai Fish Cakes

These Thai Fish Cakes are just like the ones sold on the streets in Thailand. Red curry paste gives them punch and the right amount of heat.

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Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: thai

Keyword: thai fish cakes

Author: Cinde Little

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 lb cod, cut into chunks (454 g)
• ▢ 2 tablespoon red curry paste
• ▢ 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• ▢ 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lime juice
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ ¼ cup white rice flour
• ▢ ½ cup thinly sliced, green beans
• ▢ 6 tablespoon oil for frying
• ▢ SERVING: Thai sweet chile sauce, cilantro and lime wedges

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Instructions

• Place cut up fish in food processor and pulse a few times.
• Add curry paste, cilantro, fish sauce, lime juice and egg. Pulse until combined and fish is finely minced but not mushy.
• Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with rice flour and green beans. Stir until evenly mixed.
• Using a scoop, portion mixture onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Gently pat mixture into patties about ½ inch thick. I use a 3 tablespoon size scoop.
• Heat generous amount of oil in skillet over medium high heat.
• Gently place fish cakes in oil and cook 2 minutes per side until golden brown. Transfer to plate lined with paper towel. Keep warm until they are all cooked. Add more oil to the pan as needed.
• Serve with Thai Sweet Chile Sauce for dipping.
• Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.