Thai Fish Cakes - Version Two! (With Sweet Chilli Sauce and Fresh Pickled Vegetable Relish - includes Thermomix method)

 

One of my favourite Thai dishes, and so versatile - a dinner, a starter, a snack, a buffet dish... and now I've updated it as it has evolved over the years - 2014 was when I first posted this recipe!

Fish cakes are one of the iconic street food dishes of Thailand, and they're delicious dipped into a piquant sauce. I think my favourite thing about Thai fish cakes is the fact that there's no filler in there - no bread crumbs, or potato - they're just pure, delicious un-stodgy protein! If you want to, you can give them a little twist, by replacing some of the raw fish with crab meat, and lightly pan frying them and finishing off for a few minutes in the oven rather than deep-frying them - but you're welcome to deep-fry them if you prefer... I think they're really good cooked this way though, and somewhat healthier.

These ones have been shallow fried, which gives a more uniform browning

This recipe makes around 20 to 25 fish cakes, and although usually you'd probably have three for a starter, you could also serve four to five as a main course (there are four of us including two children, 10 and 11 with hearty appetites - I made twenty, and we had five left over).

Obviously it would serve far more as a starter (divide the mix into 24, and you'll have three each to serve eight people), and would make a great warm buffet dish. The secret is not to overcook them - you want a nice, light, dare-I-say-it almost slightly 'bouncy' texture. They really are deliciously tasty - no wonder they are so popular! They even freeze well, either raw or cooked (I prefer to freeze them lightly cooked, for ease) - just defrost and re-heat or cook lightly.

If you're counting calories, then the calories per serving if divided between five people are as follows:

Fish Cakes - 177; Pickled Vegetable Relish - 50; Sweet Chilli Sauce - 48; Total calories - 275. (You can take off 30 if you leave out the peanuts, and add on 76 for a 200g portion of cauliflower rice, or 149 calories per serving for a portion of Thai Jasmine rice (45g uncooked). 50g mixed leaves is around 10 calories). [Calories in square brackets next to ingredients]

Chinese Shredded Pickled Carrots

Delicious with Crispy Duck Pancakes, and as a side to many other Asian dishes!

Ever wondered how those delicious, piquant shredded carrots are made that you get with Chinese crispy duck and pancakes, alongside the cucumber, spring onion, and hoisin sauce?

Well, the good news is that they're really simple to make, and after a quick mix, only need about thirty minutes before they're ready to eat (or longer if you want to make in advance!)... and if you've never had them with crispy duck pancakes as part of the filling, then I highly recommend you give them a go, they take your pancakes to a new level of deliciousness!

Disgracefully Decadent Tiramisu (with a Tried and Tested Gluten Free Option and Thermomix instructions)

Put your biggest, stretchiest pants on, and attach steel girders to your dining chairs... this is not for the faint-hearted!!!

To be fair, it's only a centimetre or so of whipped cream more decadent than a standard tiramisu... and a lil' bit of grated dark chocolate... oh, maybe a couple of other bits... but don't be scared! Start this off the day / evening before you want to serve it, and it will keep for a few days in the fridge (well, if it lasts that long!).

I first started making and tweaking this almost thirty years ago, and then there was a period of drought, whereby there were delightful small people around (for which it's wholly unsuitable, unless you omit the alcohol and cook the egg yolk mixture to 70C, but more of that later!), and then coeliac disease, diabetes etc.... but now that the small people are in their twenties, it's come back as a decadent dessert option, and I had to research, re-vamp and remember a lot of it all over again!

It took me a fair while to get it all back to my version of perfection; so now that I've re-perfected it with a gluten free alternative, I'm getting it down onto my blog ASAP before I forget any of it!

I'll put "OPTIONAL" in brackets for the things that I like to add, which may stray a little from Nonnas' recipes, but it's fairly true to what would be acceptable to Italians, so you can make your own choices!

Whichever way you choose to do it, I hope you and your guests love it as much as we do!

Should serve at least 10, depending on your guests' appetites! Try to stay in charge of serving the initial portions and let people come back for seconds, and you might even be able to serve more!!! If you want to serve in individual glasses/dishes, I'd probably go with half portions of the ingredients, to make a good six portions.

Mum's Stinky Nuts!

So-called because cooking them makes the kitchen eye-wateringly "fragrant" (AKA stinky)...!

I've been making these for too many years to remember; both for myself and the family to nibble on, and to share with friends who come over, especially to go with drinks prior to diving into "proper food"!

They're very quick and simple to make in a pan, you just need to toss them for a few minutes - the longest part is waiting for them to cool down, so they become nice and crunchy! After years of making these intuitively, it took me several attempts to measure out the exact amount of spices and liquids tc. to replicate the way I make them, however after giving it a go as written, feel free to change the spice levels to your own tastes, and if you want them saltier, omit the water and add a little more soy sauce to taste - I just didn't want them to be too salty for people the first time they tried them!