RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Thai fishcakes with cucumber relish and sweet chilli sauce

Makes 25 small fishcakes

These fishcakes are very easy to make and very tasty! You don’t need to make the cucumber relish if you don’t have time but it does make a nice accompaniment. Any white fish would work well in these fishcakes. We use hake at the restaurant because we think it gives the best texture and flavour.  We also serve ours with homemade sweet chilli sauce but the stuff you can buy in the Chinese supermarket is a good substitute.

500g fish, trimmed, no skin or bones

35g thai red curry paste (bought if you don’t have time to make at home)

Grated zest of 1 lime

200g finely chopped French beans, blanched and cooled

1.       Whizz the fish in food processor until broken down. Be careful not to mix too much as the mix will become heavy and make heavy fishcakes

2.       Put in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients

3.       Knead roughly for 2 minutes

4.       Cook a small piece and taste.

5.       If it needs seasoning, add thai fish sauce, not salt

Cucumber relish

3  cups sugar

3  cups distilled vinegar

4  cups water

1 tsp salt

2 cucumbers, deseeded and sliced into thin half moons

2 thumbs of ginger, cut into long thin matchsticks

1 chilli, sliced

2 shallots, peeled and sliced into thin rings

1.       Put the sugar, water, vinegar and salt into a pot

2.       Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Take off the heat and leave to cool.

3.       Add the ginger, cucumber, shallot and chilli and leave for 2 hours before serving. This helps the flavours infuse and mingle together

To  Assemble:

Fry the fishcakes in a pan with 1” of vegetable oil in it. Cook for 1.5 minutes on each side. Be careful not too cook to long as the fishcakes will dry out and be tough. Take them out when they are golden and dry on kitchen paper. Serve with the drained cucumber relish and sweet chilli sauce.