- Prep Time: 15 min.
- Cook Time: 5 min.
- Yield: 4 cakes
All across Thailand, from fancy restaurants to street carts, Tod Mun Pla is a favorite appetizer. The delicate, immensely flavorful patties and accompanying dipping sauces are a treat to present at any Thai-themed dinner.
These fish cakes are so easy to make, as are the sauces, and take no time to make to impress! Utilizing store-bought red curry paste is key to the rapidity of preparation. Mae Ploy makes an excellent-quality red curry paste along with Mussaman, Yellow, Green, and Panang curry pastes.
I used to make, painstakingly, Thai curry pastes, but with these ready-mades that are all within arms-reach in our kitchen, there is no shame in taking short cuts. Especially with these high-quality products available.
For the fish, light, flaky species work best. Whitefish and rockfish are commonly used. Actually, I have used ultra-fresh, wild-caught sockeye salmon fillets with rockfish fillets in the ratio of 1:1 for a beautiful, moist, delicious end result. Farmed salmon are too oily and heavy, and white fish such as swordfish and halibut are too dense, rendering all of these undesirable for this recipe. The bottom-line suggestion here is to find fresh, never frozen, wild-caught, delicate white fish for the best outcome of your Thai fish cakes.
Without a meat grinder or food processor, it is absolutely easy, albeit more time-consuming, to mince the fish with a sharp serrated knife.
You will notice that there is no added salt in this recipe. The reason is the presence of fish sauce. This Thai cookery staple, fermented from anchovies, is plenty salty on its own. The Viet Huong brand, recognizable by the trio of blue crabs on the label, is inexpensive and packed with flavor.
Mirin is a Japanese cooking wine that is sweet, a tad bit viscous, and only about 9 percent ethanol. If it is unavailable, double the rice vinegar for the dipping sauce. This is my own addition, as mirin is not customarily used in Thai cuisine. I just love its contribution to the flavor and texture of the cucumber-drizzling sauce. For variety, I usually serve a slightly-doctored store-bought sweet chili sauce in addition to the cucumber.
You will need: needle-nosed pliers, a meat grinder, a medium-sized glass mixing bowl, a large sautée pan, and a small ceramic condiment bowl.
Lastly, there is no substitute for fresh herbs in this recipe. If Thai basil is not available, Italian basil will be entirely adequate, and any mint variety (except for peppermint, which is too strong) will suffice. Fresh kefir lime leaves may be found at Asian markets. Substitute the grated zest of ½ a lime if the leaves are unavailable.
Make the cucumber dipping sauce (below) in advance to allow the mint to infuse the base and be ready for serving immediately upon finishing the frying of the fish cakes.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces of Pacific Rockfish fillets
- 3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 1 egg yolk, beaten
- 2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar
- 6 slim green beans, diced finely
- 2/3 cup minced Thai basil
- 3 fresh kaffir lime leaves, minced
- ¼ cup peanut oil
- ¼ cup Mirin
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
- ¾ cup finely diced cucumber
- 1/3 cup minced fresh mint
Instructions
- Using kitchen pliers, remove any pin bones from the fish fillets. To do this, run your clean fingers over the fish and pluck out any bones. Then grind or hand-mince the fish flesh as finely as possible.
- In the mixing bowl, combine the minced fish, curry paste, egg yolk, fish sauce, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Taste for heat from the curry paste and level of fish sauce.
- Adjust as needed. For fans of super heat, one ground Thai chili could be added here for a real punch.
- Add the diced beans, 1/3 cup Thai basil, and kaffir lime leaves. Mix by hand until uniform. Divide the fish into 8 equal-sized balls.
- Compress the fish, roll it into tight balls between your palms, and flatten it into uniform patties. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Wash your hands immediately, or the red curry paste may stain your skin.
- Meanwhile, in a small serving bowl, dissolve the 1 tablespoon sugar in the mirin and rice vinegar. Add the remaining basil, mint, and cucumber. Stir well to incorporate. The sauce should be quite sweet from the mirin and sugar. Adjust sweetness if necessary.
- In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Without crowding the fish cakes, fry them for two minutes per side or until golden.
- Fry in separate batches if necessary to prevent the fish cakes from touching while cooking.
- Serve immediately with the side bowls of cucumber sauce and sweet chili sauce.
Enjoy with chilled sake, Chang beer, which is a Thai lager, or Lychee-tini cocktails.
