Thai Fish Cakes with Red Curry Paste Recipe (Tawt Man Blaa Krai)

Featherback fish is the most common fish for these tasty snacks, found in markets all over Thailand. This Thai fish cake recipe can be served as a bite-sized snack, rolled into balls and skewered alongside a dipping sauce, or served in larger portions as a main dish. Wandee Culinary School also suggests smearing the uncooked fish cake paste on a slice of bread and deep-frying the whole slice as a crispy snack resembling Thai fried bread with pork. Kaffir lime leaves and wing beans (or green beans) enliven this Thai fish cake recipe, and deep-fried sweet basil leaves make a perfect garnish. To keep your fish cakes from getting too oily, gently squeeze them with chopsticks as they fry.

Thai Fish Cakes with Red Curry Paste

Ingredients

• 2-3 tbl red curry paste
• 1 cup (200 grams) fish fillet
• 1/4 cup wing beans or green beans, sliced
• 1 tablespoon kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
• 3 cups vegetable oil

For the seasoning mix

• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp sugar

For the vinegar and cucumber dipping sauce

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh red spur chilis, pounded
• 1 cucumber, sliced
• 1 tablespoon roasted peanuts, crushed

Preparation

1. Dip your hands in salted water, then use them to mash the fish filet against the side of a mixing bowl, until it becomes a sticky paste. This makes the fish chewy.
2. Add the curry paste to the mashed fish and continue to beat for five minutes. Add the seasoning sauce, sliced beans, and kaffir lime leaves. Mix together. Shape the fish cake into small balls and flatten.
3. Deep-fry the cakes over a low heat until they are golden. Remove from the oil and let drain. Serve with the vinegar-cucumber dipping sauce.

To make the dipping sauce

1. Mix together the vinegar, salt, sugar, and chili pepper together. Heat until boiling, then let cool completely.
2. Spoon into a serving dish over the sliced cucumbers. Sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro leaves.

Recipe © 2011 Wandee Culinary School

This recipe and image is used with permission from the Wandee Culinary School and comes from Thai Favorites to World Kitchen, available for purchase in our cookbook section (see cover illustration below).

Thai Favorites to World Kitchen, cover and sample page.

Preparing your own curry paste will give the best results for a really authentic and delicious thai curry. However, making your own paste is time consuming and not always possible. We recommend our ready-made Nittaya brand Red Curry Paste.

It's an excellent quick and simple alternative to preparing your own curry paste. It is the best prepared curry paste we have tried here at Temple of Thai and as a fellow curry lover we're sure you'll agree.