Fish cakes are a fantastic way to use up leftover seafood and cooked vegetables. I often use a combination of cod and shrimp but salmon and trout also yield delicious results. Feel free to tinker with your favourite seafood.
This recipe requires a bit of patience. The ingredients, for example, must be chopped in small pieces, otherwise they won’t hold their shape when fashioned into disks. Breading the cakes requires a gentle touch; it’s not difficult but it takes time. Fortunately, the cakes can be assembled and refrigerated up to a day before frying.
If you’re not using leftovers, you’ll need to plan ahead, as the fish and vegetables are pre-cooked.
Makes 12 (3" Cakes)
■ 1 lb cooked fish, plus 1/2 lb cooked hand-peeled shrimp, roughly chopped into 1/4” pieces
■ 1 cup cooked vegetables, such as broccoli, beans, cauliflower etc., chopped into 1/4” pieces
■ 1 1/2 cups diced cooked new potatoes, cut into1/4” dice or smaller
■ 2 spring onions, finely sliced
■ 1/3 cup mayonnaise
■ 1/2 tsp garlic, finely grated (preferably with a microplane)
■ 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated (preferably with a microplane)
■ 1 tsp kosher salt
■ 1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
■ 1/2 tsp hot sauce, such as Sriracha
■ 1 tsp fish sauce
■ 1 cup corn flour
■ 1 tsp kosher salt
■ 3 eggs, lightly mixed
■ 1 package, 3.5 oz., rice crackers, crushed into crumbs with a food processor (or a rolling pin)
■ vegetable oil for shallow frying - about 3 cups for a 10 1/2” skillet
In a large bowl, combine cooked fish, shrimp, cooked potatoes and onions. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, garlic, ginger, salt, lime juice, hot sauce and fish sauce. Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the fish and vegetable mixture and gently mix together, being mindful not to over-mix. The mixture should retain the texture of the vegetables and fish. Taste the mixture — it should be delicious, as is. If not, season with additional salt or lime juice.
Scoop about 3/4 cup of the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and shape into a patty about 3” diameter x 1” thick, using your hands. (They don’t have to be perfectly shaped at this point.) Repeat with the balance of the mixture.
Cover with plastic and firm in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
Place three shallow bowls on our work surface: Place the corn flour and salt in the first bowl, the eggs in the second, and the rice cracker crumbs in the third.
Working with one chilled cake at a time, squeeze the cake lightly with your hands, to help keep it together. Gently dredge it first in the flour, then carefully coat it with the eggs, then the cracker crumbs. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour, or up to 24 hours, before frying.
Pour enough oil in a heavy skillet to cover the fish cakes halfway. Bring the oil slowly to temperature until an instant-read thermometer reaches 350 degrees or when a cube of bread dropped in the oil turns golden in a minute.
Add the chilled fish cakes, being mindful not to overcrowd the pan, which will cool the oil temperature and render the coating soggy, rather than crisp. When the cakes have browned on one side, carefully turn them over with a pair of tongs and cook on the other side until golden.
Drain the cakes on a paper towel and sprinkle lightly with a pinch of kosher salt while still warm.
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