Fish Cakes

Finally, I'm here, actually drafting this post....over the past so many months, I took many pictures even drafted the blog post in my mind but than period, no actual writing, picture editing & clicking of "Publish Post" button happened. Well, now I'm here and really hoping I'll make it to the "Publish Post" button.

The recipe I'm going to share today is of Fish Cakes. I usually make salmon cakes/patties/tikkis but that recipe is way different as I use raw fish in that & no potatoes. But for this recipe I'm using cooked fish along with some boiled potatoes.

 

I've been experimenting with cod fish lately. I did try to make cod fish cakes last time with raw fish but they didn't hold nicely while shallow frying them, I do need to improve on that recipe. These ones are also good, taste as well as look wise. We used them to make fish burgers, sorry no click of that.

Note(Please Read) : I didn't measure the spices exactly, so I'm gonna give you rough idea. Also, as the fish is boiled first so we are using the cooked fish for making the mixture for the cakes, so no harm in tasting it & adjusting the spices as per your taste buds, that's the route I followed.

The following recipe gave me 24(3"diameter) cakes.

What I used :

For Cakes:

 

2 pounds of Alaskan Cod fillet(no skin)

1 large size Idaho potato, boiled & mashed

generous handfulll of fresh Cilantro/Coriander/Hara Dhania, finely chopped

1 larger onion, grated, squeeze & discard the water

2 green hot chilli

1 heaping Tablespoon of fresh finely chopped garlic

1/2 Tablespoon of grated fresh ginger

2 tsp. Coriander powder

2 tsp. Cumin powder

1 tsp. Black Pepper

1 tsp. Garlic powder(if u don't have it add some extra garlic)

1 tsp. of red chilli powder(degi mirch, not the hot kind)

salt as per taste

few generous shake of buffalo sauce

2 Tablespoon of white vinegar

1 flaxegg (* see notes after the ingredients list) Or 1 egg

To coat the cakes before shallow frying :

Coating 1:

1/4cup of APF

1/2 tsp. of salt

1/2 cup of water

Coating 2:

1/2 cup of rice flour (corn starch or APF can be used)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. black pepper

For shallow Frying :

oil

Flax Egg

* Notes : For flaxegg : 1 Tablespoon of flax seed powder +  3 Tablespoon of warm water, mix them together & let them sit for a minute or two.

What I did :

1. Wash the fish fillet, check for any bones. Cut them into 1-2" pieces.

2. In a large pot filled with water add some salt & fish pieces and boil them till they are cooked. Depending upon how big the size of pieces they should be cooked in around 10-15 minutes. Keep the gas on medium, no need to cover the pot, stir it in between few times. I used some Garlic powder also while boiling the fish but couldn't taste it once the fish was boiled so I'm not recommending using it while boiling the fish.

3. Once the fish is cooked(to check take a piece out & see if it's flaky) drain it in  a strainer. Let it drain thoroughly & get cool also. I left it like this for almost half an hour.

4. Transfer the fish into a big mixing bowl.

5. Add rest of the ingredients from the fist list for cakes.

6. Using your hands mix everything. Taste the mixture and if needed adjust the seasoning at this point. Cover it & let the mixture rest for at least  half an hour in the fridge, I prepared upto this point & let it sit in the fridge till dinner time and proceeded with the rest of the steps when we were ready to eat.

7. When ready to make fish cakes, take out the mixture.

8. In a bowl, using a whisk mix everything in Coating 2 ingredient list and transfer it to some shallow plate/pie dish.

9. Using the same bowl , make the slurry using Coating 1 ingredient list. Use whisk to make sure no lumps are formed.

10. Depending upon how big or small fish cakes you want to make, take a handful of mixture roll it into ball & flatten it into disc shape. Make all the patties like this and keep it in a plate.

11. Heat a heavy bottomed pan(I used cast iron) with 4-5 Tablespoon of oil.

12. Taking one patty/disc at a time dip it in the slurry we made in the step 9, let the extra coating drip in the same bowl. Now roll it in the Coat 2 mix(dry coating) and put it in the pan.

13. Repeat till you have around 5-6 patties in the pan(that's how many fit in my pan comfortably, do not overcrowd the pan).

14. Cook each side till it get brown(around 4 minutes on each side).

15. Shallow fry all the patties same way. Whenever you feel the oil in the pan is used up add little bit more oil & let it get warm before adding more patties into it.

Important Note : Don't let the long list of ingredients & no. of steps intimidate you. As they are all common ingredients found in a regular kitchen. Also read the steps before you start cooking as there is some resting time, which also mean that you can do most of the work before hand & only shallow fry them when ready to eat.

Enjoy these yummy fish cakes as is with some spicy chutney/condiment of your choice. I love it with green chutney(Indian style). Or you can turn these into complete meal by using them for making fish burgers, in that case use some spicy mayo & some salad in the buns along with these. Enjoy!

Finally I did made it to the end of the recipe.