Thai Fish Cakes (Tod Mun Pla)
This recipe was developed based on the Fish Cake recipe from She Simmers, and the recipe from Lucky Peach: 101 Easy Asian Recipes. The dipping sauce recipe is slightly adapted from Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes by Peter Meehan.
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 20 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450 grams) white fish fillet (, cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) pieces (Footnote 1))
- 2.6 oz red curry paste
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 tbsp fish sauce ((or soy sauce if you don’t like fish sauce))
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup thinly sliced green beans (*Footnote 2) ((Optional))
- Vegetable oil for frying ((*Footnote 3))
- Lime wedges for serving
- 1/2 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
- 1 cup seeded cucumber (, chopped)
- 2 tbsp roasted peanuts (, chopped)
- 2 tbsp cilantro (, minced)
- 1 tsp fish sauce
Instructions
- 1
Fish cake:
- 2
Combine the fish, curry paste, egg whites, fish sauce, and sugar in a food processor. Pulse a few times, to mix until it forms a smooth, thick, and sticky paste, 2 minutes or so. Once finished, poke the fish paste with a spoon. It should be firm, elastic, and springy. Transfer the fish paste into a big bowl.
- 3
Fold the green beans into the paste using a spatula.
- 4
Heat 1/2-inch oil in a small deep pot over medium heat until hot (*Footnote 4).
- 5
Work on the fish cakes in batches. Use a cookie scoop to transfer a ball of 2 tablespoons of fish paste onto an oiled spatula. Then use the back of another spatula or a large spoon to flatten the ball into a 1/4-inch (1/2-cm) thick disc. Gently slide the fish cake into the pan. Fry until the bottom side turns golden, about 30 to 40 seconds. Flip and cook the other side until golden. The whole process should take about 1 minute. (*Footnote 5) To test doneness, transfer a fish cake onto a plate and poke it with a toothpick. You should feel the bouncy resistance and the toothpick should come out clean.
- 6
Sauce
- 7
Mix all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl right before serving.
- 8
Serve the hot fish cake with dipping sauce as an appetizer, or serve them on top of rice or noodles as a main. Enjoy!
- 9
You can store the cooked fish cakes in the fridge for a couple days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. One note: do not refrigerate the uncooked fish paste. I did it once, and fried fish cakes made from day-old fish paste and it resulted in a tough and grainy texture. I had to put it back into the food processor and beat two more egg whites into it to get the texture fluffy again.