Anyhoo~ I was in Chinatown, rummaging through a little tiny bookstore… and found a book on how to cook Thai food. Which had me remember about a little Thai restaurant, that closed long time ago, that served these amazing fried fish cakes. My family had tried to recreate it but with no success. Back to the little bookstore, I flipped through the pages and saw a picture of the fried fish cakes… it looked exactly like the ones I had in the restaurant! I dislike frying food because of the oily feeling after frying and the popping oil burns, and the overall mess in the end. But I have to try this!
I credit the book 爱上cc老师的泰国菜 for it. But wait… why is the title of the entry "take 1"? Well.. because your's truly here did not have the time to better research what "red curry paste" that the chef meant in the cookbook. So I used Patak's (an Indian brand) red curry paste. It did not do much to the fish cake's end result in terms of flavor, just a slightest hint of basic curry flavor. Neither did it provide that distinct redness. Next time I redo this recipe, I will definitely try using red curry paste that is used in Thai dishes. Just to see if there is any differences. Also! Another little note… I hand diced the fish meat and squid/cuttlefish meat into a paste. Also… you have to literally splat the fish-squid paste mix till it is sticky and has a slight bounce to it. It is going to take a while, but it is worth it. So ladies, if you want a good shoulder exercise… and/or have some pent up anger... this is the dish. But if you have a food processor, go for it. My family says that the texture is better if made into a paste by hand. In terms of making them into patties... if you form them by hand then fry it, it will have a light airy chewy texture. If you form them using a spoon then fry it, you'd end up packing it, pushing out the air, thus turning the end product into a hard dense chewy product.
Back four are hand-formed, and the front six are spoon-formed
300g (about 1.5 lb) red snapper fillet
150g (about 1/3 lb) fresh squid or cuttlefish
8 pieces Chinese long beans, chopped into thin rounds
6 pieces Kaffir lime leaves, really finely chopped
1 egg
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tbsp red curry paste
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp cooking rice wine (I used Shao Hing cooking wine)
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
Oil for frying (use peanut oil or canola oil)
How-To:
- Chop and mince into a paste for both the fish fillet and squid/cuttlefish. Put into a big bowl for mixing.
- Into same bowl, add in the chopped long bean, egg, finely chopped lime leaves, fish sauce, corn starch, baking soda, curry paste, cooking rice wine, and white pepper powder.
- Mix everything until well incorporated.
- Now scoop up that blob with your hands, and just throw it down into the bowl like your angry at something! (Screaming "YAHHHHH!" helps, and having someone else take a little turn helps too.)
- Once the blob has a slight bounce to touch, it is ready to be made into a patty. First clean your hands, and wet them to make the patties. This will prevent the sticky mixture from turning your hands into club hands.
- Heat oil over medium-high heat. Once the frying oil is ready (test with a bamboo chopstick for rapid bubbles, sign that it is ready), drop a few patties into the oil. It will puff up a little as it fry. You can gently press the puff down to draw out the moisture. Fry until golden brown.
- Remember to place fried products onto a well-lined plate to draw out excess oil.
- Serve with a sweet vinegar sauce, or a sweet chili sauce.
I wish I tried the sauce recipe that accompanied the fishcakes in the book. May be next time. But I used a sweet chili sauce (Mae Ploy brand), it was just as good. Great for parties. Enjoy everyone!
