Japanese Fried Fish Cakes (Satsuma Age)
Japanese fried fish cakes are made in a similar way to Thai fish cakes but the flavourings are less spicy and use common Japanese seasonings. Unlike typical Western-style fish cakes, they do not use flour or mashed potatoes to bind the fish together. It is mostly fish with finely chopped vegetables mixed in.
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 25 min
- Yield
- 10 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 300 g (0.7lb) white fish fillet (, boneless & skinless (note 1))
- 2 tsp sake
- 1 tsp ginger juice from grated ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp sugar
- 1 egg
- oil for deep frying
- 10 g (0.4oz) carrots (, julienned into 1cm long very fine sticks)
- 10 g (0.4oz) snow peas (, julienned crosswise finely)
- 10 g (0.4oz) burdock (, julienned into 1cm long very fine sticks (note 3))
- 10 g (0.4oz) black fungus (, rehydrated and finely chopped)
- 1 tbsp corn flour (corn starch)
- Lemon wedges or grated ginger with soy sauce
Instructions
- 1
Cut fish fillet into small pieces so that it is easier to make paste in a food processor.
- 2
Add fish pieces, sake, ginger juice, salt and sugar to a food processor and whizz until the mixture becomes paste.
- 3
Add egg to the fish paste and blend well.
- 4
Add all the Vegetable mixture in a large bowl and mix well ensuring that vegetable pieces are evenly coated with corn flour. This will allow the vegetables to stick to the paste better.
- 5
Add the fish paste to the bowl and mix well. Divide the mixture into 10 equal portions.
- 6
Heat oil in a deep frypan or a skillet to 170C (335F) (note 4).
- 7
Wet your hands. Take 1/10 of the fish cake mixture and make a ball, then flatten to make flat oval shape (note 5). Place it in the oil.
- 8
Fry for 2-2.5 minutes until bottom side of the fish cake is golden brown. Turn it over to cook for further 2-2.5 minutes until golden brown.
- 9
Remove the fish cake and drain oil on a rack or kitchen paper.
- 10
Repeat steps 7, 8, 9 for the rest of the fish cakes (note 6).
- 11
Serve while hot or at room temperature with lemon wedges, or grated ginger with soy sauce (note 7) if using.