Thai fish cakes, vegetarian style

Some years ago, I regularly received free mini magazines from the Nestle food company. I don't know how I got on their mailing list, but the magazines would arrive in my letterbox every month or two and I loved getting them. Thinking about it now, I also don't know why I stopped receiving them, and can't help but wish they still found their way to my letterbox today.

The magazines were, of course, really an advertising system. They talked about existing and new Nestle products, and provided recipes for things you could make with the Nestle range. I didn't mind. New products make me happy and I'll take recipe ideas in most forms.

One of the recipes I tucked away was for Sweet chilli Thai fish cakes. Of course, the recipe called for Nestle-owned Maggi sweet chilli sauce, as well as Maggi coconut milk powder. My version has never included coconut milk powder, for the simple reason that I never buy it, and has always involved the Trident brand of sweet chilli sauce, for the simple reason that I always buy that.

I may not have been the follow-the-recipe-exactly customer that Nestle was hoping for.

Nonetheless, my version of the Thai fish cakes became an occasional stand-by meal, and when Mr Bite entered the picture, I found that he enjoyed them too.

Prior to last year, I always made them with tuna and an egg, as per the ingredient list. Last year I found that commercial egg replacer works well instead of real egg. And last week I found that beans work well instead of tuna.

Very well in fact.

Even though I still eat fish sometimes, I do like to keep my intake occasional, and if there are vegetarian alternatives they are generally my first preference. I was thus quite delighted to discover that making these with tuna and with beans is easy (yet another two-way meal!), and the product is equally enjoyable both ways.

The sweet chilli and coriander (cilantro) flavours are part of what makes this recipe so appealing to me. The cakes are light and fresh, and can be served just with salad or with slightly denser sides; bread rolls, potato wedges, or even in wraps.

Thai fish cakes; tuna and vegetarian varieties

Adapted from a Nestle recipe for sweet chilli Thai fish cakes

Makes 16 - 20 cakes

Vegan if using the vegetarian ingredients and egg replacer

Print recipe

Ingredients

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

3 pieces slightly old bread, crusts removed and crumbled into crumbs (or ~1/4 cup + 1 tbsp commercial bread crumbs)

Egg replacer to the equivalent of 1 egg, or 1 egg 

1 celery stick, sliced

1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce

1 tsp lemon rind or lemon juice

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves

Pepper, to taste

For tuna: 425g can tuna in springwater, drained

For vegetarian: 425g can butter beans (or beans of choice), drained and roughly crushed

Oil spray for the pan

Method

Cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender (about 15 minutes). Drain and mash roughly with a fork. Allow to cool slightly.

Add all ingredients except the tuna or beans to the potato. Mix well to combine. Add the tuna or beans. You can make half of each.

Refrigerate the mixture for an hour.

Heat a non-stick pan on medium-high heat and spray with oil spray. Use a spoon or your hands to roughly shape small patties, and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until lightly golden.

 (I tend to cook 3 - 4 patties in the pan at once, and then keep them warm in an oven that's been pre-heated to 100'C whilst I cook the rest.)

Vegetarian on the top; tuna at the bottom

These are fairly soft fish cakes, but you could make them crispier by using more oil and semi-frying them. I like them slightly soft, and the mixture of flavours allows for a slight sweetness that is perfectly offset by the hints of lemon and pepper, the coriander, and the chilli component of the sweet chilli sauce.

The bean version didn't taste identical to the tuna, of course, but the texture was remarkably similar. I didn't do a great job of crushing my beans (as evidenced by whole beans being visible in my cakes!) but that didn't seem to matter. The bean version was also lighter than the tuna cakes, and perhaps slightly less sweet.

Chickpeas or cannelloni beans would work well as alternative bean choices, and I only chose butter beans because I had the greatest number of tins of those in the pantry. I suspect I will be making these again quite a few times, so I should have opportunities to experiment with the full range of options.


Now, in other news - remember those bugs I inhaled when running on Wednesday? On Thursday, I developed a cough. On Friday, my lungs hurt. Over the last 24 hours, I've found my voice to stop working in any reliable manner. It seems I have a chest infection.

The idea of bugs in my lungs makes me very unhappy indeed and I am rather looking forward to completing my course of antibiotics so I can have some assurance that they are gone!

Have you hit on any good recipes from free recipe brochures or magazines?
Have you ever had problems result from inhaling or otherwise being attacked by flies or bugs?!

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