As I said earlier I’ve been thinking about this recipe all week, a real fusion dish of East meets West. I have been musing about which curry paste would suit cod and what other ingredients to add.
At lunchtime today I went into the city to get lunch and I stopped by the little Asian store at Claraplatz since they sell a whole host of freshly made curry pastes. I bought three different pastes, normal red curry paste, country style curry paste and chu-chi curry paste. I have no idea what to do with the country style and chu-chi curry pastes but I thought the red curry would be perfect for my reworked Thai influenced fishcakes.
This is a work in progress so it may take a few attempts before I get it exactly right.
SPICY RED CURRY FISHCAKES
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
- 450g Cod fillet (or other white fish)
- 350g Floury potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 5 Thai spring onions, finely chopped
- Handful corriander, finely chopped
- 1 Tsp Thai red curry paste (this really depends on how spicy you like things, the fresh curry paste I used is pretty hot so I only used 1 tsp)
- 1 Large egg, beaten
- White breadcrumbs (I would prefer to use Japanese breadcrumbs but I couldn’t get them)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
PREPARATION
- Place the cod into a frying pan and pour over boiling water. Bring to the boil and allo to simmer for 4 minutes, cover remove from the heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes to finish cooking.
- Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender (about 15-20 minutes), pass through a ricer so that the mash is very fine and has no lumps. Add the curry paste, spring onions and corriander to the mash and mix thoroughly.
- Flake the cod into the potato mixture and mix well.
- Form the mixture into patties, dip into the beaten egg and then into the breadcrumbs.
- cover and refridgerate the fishcakes for at least 30 minutes before frying.
- Shallow fry the fishcakes in the olive oil until golden brown on both sides (about 5 minutes).
- Serve with a mixed green salad and lime wedges.
I think maybe the next time I make this I’ll poach the fish in a 50:50 mix of coconut milk and water.
Meeta | 16-Jun-06 at 10:28 pm | Permalink
yum, yum! Great pic Pam. This looks fantastic. Spicy is gooood!
But you are like me. I buy stuff that looks good but have no idea what to do with them
Pamela | 16-Jun-06 at 10:32 pm | Permalink
I need to stop doing that!!
Foodfreak | 17-Jun-06 at 10:04 am | Permalink
You can use country curry paste for about the same stuff you try red curry paste in – it is usually a little hotter than the red one. Great for any meat-and-coconut curry, too. I’ll check my Thai cookbooks for specific uses.
Your fiscakes are very fusion
– I love the basic Thai fish cakes (tod man pla) with tiny pices of yardlong beans, and ice flour as a binder. Your idea with potato sure looks tasty!
Googling for chu chi most recipes with that kind of cury seem to focus on fish and seafood. So I’ll stay tuned to see what you will be using it for
Pamela | 17-Jun-06 at 10:09 am | Permalink
Thanks Foodfreak, I would really appreciate that and thanks for popping by!
I’d better get my thinking cap on to figure out what I’m gonna do with those curry pastes!
mae | 17-Jun-06 at 2:47 pm | Permalink
Love fishcakes… can i have some, please? Looks great!
Sara | 17-Jun-06 at 6:28 pm | Permalink
Great recipe! Curry and fish are made for each other, aren’t they?
Pamela | 17-Jun-06 at 9:17 pm | Permalink
Mae – you’re more than welcome to pop over and get some
Sara – I completely agree!!
Food Bloggin | 20-Jun-06 at 4:20 pm | Permalink
[...] Spicy Red Curry Fishcakes.. [...]
Foodfreak | 21-Jun-06 at 4:03 pm | Permalink
So I checked all my Thai food sources but didn’t come up with something useful besides the point that country curry paste is usually red and a variety of red paste (sometimes referred to as jungle curry), and chu chee is obviously meant for fish. no recipe on my end, I am afraid.
Pamela | 21-Jun-06 at 5:08 pm | Permalink
Thanks anyway!!
Foodfreak | 25-Jun-06 at 3:36 pm | Permalink
Just found a terrific idea on using curry paste at Appon’s Thai Food Blog
http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/2006/06/red_pork_curry.html
Now here’s a hot one
Pamela | 26-Jun-06 at 9:30 am | Permalink
What a great idea!
Alexandra | 08-Nov-07 at 4:37 am | Permalink
Hi
Love the fish cakes but one comment – usually the thai curry pastes that I buy need to be fried for two to three minutes over a hot flame with a teaspoon of oil to take out the ‘raw’ flavor. I did this before I mixed it with the potato and thought the flavor was fuller. 2 cents worth!