Prawn fishcakes （虾仁鱼饼）

-

 


Do you like to make your own fishcakes? Have you ever tried prawn fishcakes? This prawn and fishcake are crispy golden pops of seafood dressed with a tangy sweet slightly spicy kind of sauce and lot of fresh herbs.

This prawn fishcake is slightly different from the classic fishcakes. Let’s talk about the type of fish to use. My late mom used to use mackerel for making fish cake. I am using a snapper for this recipe. In fact, you can choose any kind of firm white fish. Or you can use salmon also.

To make the fish paste, my late mom used to scrape the fish meat with a metal spoon and chop it with the back of the knife until it turns to fine paste. I cut my fish fillet into a small chunk blend it with a food processor. How easy was that!!

You may use a food processor to blend the prawn paste, but I prefer to manually chop them to give my prawn paste a truly chunky texture with so, the fishcakes will pop a little of sweetness.

Kaffir lime leaves are the next ingredient and one of the main ingredients in this recipe. It gives the mild flavour of fresh lime. If you can't find these lime leaves where you live, you can use lime zest as a substitute.

You may be wondering why the colour of my fried prawn fishcake looks red. This is because my recipe contains with sambal belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste). This sambal belacan has all those wonderful flavors—lemongrass, garlic, and shallots. You can probably guess how flavorful the prawns and fishcakes are once they are fried. If you can't find this sambal belacan, you can use curry paste.

Those who have previously made fishcakes should be familiar with this step. You have to lift up the entire piece of fishcake mixture and smack it hard against the bowl several times to get a bouncy texture.

Let's gather all the ingredients and full instructions below to get started.  

 

INGREDIENTS

750g diced fish fillets (snapper)

250g peeled and deveined prawns

4-5 kaffir lime leaves

1 tbsp Sambal belacan

1 egg white

½ tsp sugar

2 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp salt

Enough cooking for frying

Some diced cucumber for serving

 

Drizzle sauce

3 tbsp calamansi / lime juice

3 tbsp light soy sauce

3 tbsp sugar

1 long red chili, finely chopped

 


METHOD

1. In a food processor, pulse the snapper fillets until a paste forms and finely mince the prawn with a knife. Transfer the fish paste and minced prawn to a big mixing bowl.

2. Julienned and minced the kaffir lime leaves and add into the mixing bowl together with the sambal belacan, egg white, sugar, soy sauce and salt.

3. Mix and knead the mixture with your hands. Halfway through, lift the entire piece of fishcake and smack it hard against the bowl several times to remove the excess air and to get a bouncy texture.

4. Add enough cooking oil to a well heated deep bottom wok. Put some water on your palm, grip your fist, and grasp a handful of fishpaste. Using your thumb and index finger, create a hole and squeeze out the fish paste from that hole.

5. Carefully drop fishcakes into the oil one at a time. Keep the fishcakes evenly space apart, do not overcrowded the wok. Fry for 15 to 20 seconds until the fishcake firms up. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Turn it over and fry for another 3 to 4 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Remove and drain on paper towel.

6. To make the sauce, combine the all the ingredients in a bowl, stir well until sugar melts. Set it aside.

7. Pile the fishcakes onto a plate and scatter over the diced cucumbers. Drizzle the sauce on top and serve.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Steamed Ma Lai Gou （马来糕）

-
Image
  Today I will share with you how to make Malay kuih also known as “Ma Lai Gao”.   A steamed sponge cake from Malaysia, drew inspiration from British cakes. Later, Cantonese chefs modified it to become what we now know as dim sum. Traditionally, Ma Lai Gao's starter dough takes 24 hours to prepare. I'll show you how to make Ma Lai Gao quickly and easily today without losing out on texture or flavour. In fact, the appearance of “Ma Lai Kou” is very ordinary, not much different from ordinary cakes on the market, but its preparation method and texture are worth learning from. Because it is a fermented flour product, it has a soft and smooth texture. This recipe doesn't require baking, and the preparation of “Ma Lai Gao” is very simple, and the ingredients are divided into dry and wet. The wet ones are milk and eggs, while the dry ones are powdered ingredients. To put it simply, stir the wet ingredients evenly first, then slowly add the dry ingredients, ferment and then s...
Read more

Baked Cassava or Tapioca Cake （烤木薯糕）

-
Image
Cassava or tapioca cake can be prepared in several methods, including baking, steaming and wrapping in banana leaves. It can be made with or without eggs and with or without butter. Today, I am going to share how to bake cassava or tapioca cake. Tapioca cake is very easy to make, whether to steam or to bake. The only tedious part is grating. I used to grate them into fine silk manually. But now I blend them with Thermomix to paste form. If you are using a regular blender, add a little water to the blender to blend it together. This cassava cake has a beautiful burnt skin on top and dense golden color inside. My daughter thought it was burnt cheesecake. The texture is soft but firm and not too sticky compared to the steam type. Every bite taste of cassava, coconut milk and the burnt aroma. Not overly sweet and greasy. If using a blender, cut the tapioca into smaller chunks, then carefully cut out the tough, fibrous core from the middle of each piece using a knife.   Once the t...
Read more

Dong Po Rou （东坡肉）

-
Image
Dong Po Rou （东坡肉） – wine braised pork belly. It’s rich and savoury, tender that melts into your mouth. Traditionally, the pork belly is pan-fried before being braised or stewed for one to one and a half hours on low heat. Some of the recipes even call for steaming for an additional half an hour after stewing. It is very time-consuming. But as you are aware, I enjoy making recipes simpler without compromising the taste. You, too, I'm sure. Therefore, I skipped the pan-frying step and proceeded directly to braising the pork after blanching it, and then continued to cook with a pressure cooker. Don't worry; the dish's flavour remains unaffected. I'm hoping this simplified method may come in handy for your regular cooking. Trim off the edges of the pork and cut it into 3x3 cubes. Tie cooking twine around each cube. This will assist the cubes in keeping their form while cooking. If the pork that you bought is at the mid portion of the belly is ideal, there is a nice bala...
Read more