Thai Fish Cakes
Skinless white fish fillet, red curry paste and green beans come together in this Thai seafood β 60 minutes, 6 steps, and the kind of result worth repeating. You'll find the full ingredient list (with a scaler to change the servings), 6 steps of method, substitutions, and ideas for what to serve alongside.
You'll mainly reach for frying pan / skillet and pan. At medium difficulty across 6 steps, it's manageable with a little attention. As written, it's pescatarian β fish but no meat.
What you'll need
Shopping list (5)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
π Unit converter
How to make it
- Pat the fish dry, cut it into chunks, and blitz in a food processor with the curry paste, egg, fish sauce, sugar and cornflour until it forms a sticky, slightly springy paste.
- Finely slice the green beans and lime leaves into thin rings and fold them through the fish paste along with the chopped coriander by hand.
- With wet hands, shape the mixture into roughly 12 small flat patties about 1.5 cm thick so they cook through evenly.
- Heat the oil in a deep pan to around 170 C, when a fleck of mixture sizzles steadily on contact.
- Fry the cakes in batches for 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until golden brown on both sides and cooked through to an opaque firm center reaching at least 63 C.
- Drain on paper towel and serve warm with a sweet chili or cucumber dipping sauce.
You'll use: Frying pan / skillet Β· Pan Β· Food processor
Ingredient substitutions
- Lime
- lemon
- Fish Sauce
- soy sauce + a pinch of salt
What to serve with Thai Fish Cakes
- Pad See Ew Chicken
- Thai Green Curry Chicken
- Massaman Beef curry Beef
- Panang chicken curry (kaeng panang gai) Chicken
Tips & common questions
How long does Thai Fish Cakes take to make?
About 60 minutes from start to finish β an estimate based on the 6 steps and 10 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of lime?
Try lemon. See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes β use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
How should I store leftovers?
Cool leftovers quickly, refrigerate in an airtight container, and eat within 3 days. Reheat until piping hot throughout.
Related recipes
Thai Fish Cakes is an original Thai recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Thai fish cakes (13982993054).jpg by pelican from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top β how we source recipes.