Haddock fish cakes with lime leaves and dipping sauce

⇐ Recipes from cookery books

Ingredients

for the fish cakes

a shallot, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 small hot red chillies, seeded and chopped

handful of coriander leaves

6 lime leaves

1 tbsp thai fish sauce

450g haddock fillets, skinned and boned

a little flour

groundnut oil for frying

for the dipping sauce

6 tbsp rice vinegar

4 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 small red chillies, seeded and finely chopped

1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

juice of a lime

Method

1. put the shallot, garlic, chilli, and coriander leaves in a food processor and grind to a coarse paste
2. add the lime leaves and fish sauce and lix to a loose paste
3. tip into a bowl and season with salt
4. whiz the fish in the processor to a rough paste - don't overdo this.
5. add fish to the spice paste and mush together
6. form into eight round patties - use a little flour to stop sticking to your hands.
7. leave for at least half an hour for the flavours to mix
8. make the dipping sauce by heating the vinegar and sugar to dissolve the sugar and heat until syrupy.
9. stir in the soy sauce and allow to cool. Add the chillies, coriander leaves and lime juice
10. heat the oil in a shallow pan, just enough to shallow fry the fish cakes. When the oil is hot fry the cakes, a few at a time until golden - about 4 minutes each side.

Real Cooking Nigel Slater

thai chilli