It’s January and we are all trying to eat a bit lighter after an indulgent December. No more mince pies, cheese boards and pork pies! However there is nothing to say that food has to be boring in January. It’s not all lettuce and boiled eggs.

I made Thai salmon fishcakes for dinner and served it with a big salad and I can safely say it went down a treat. Yes I added a few naughty prawn crackers but life is too short to be so strict. I don’t believe in regimented diets, mostly because I don’t think I have the discipline! I just like to eat fresh and healthy food and not deny myself the odd biscuit with my tea or dessert with my friends on the weekend.

These fishcakes were super easy to make. I happened to have lots of Thai ingredients in my kitchen that I used in this recipe but don’t panic. If you don’t have all of these ingredients or don’t want to buy them, all you need is a red Thai curry paste from a jar. These pastes have all the ingredients you need and has done all the hard work for you but won’t compromise on flavour. Just add a heaped teaspoon of this paste to your mix instead of all the Thai ingredients listed below.

Normally fishcakes are full of mash potato and can be a bit stodgy. They also tend to be covered in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and lightly fried, which can be a bit of a faff when you want something quick. To make these fishcakes lighter and easier to make, I skipped all of this! I simply made a mix in one big bowl and shaped them into fishcakes, and lightly pan fried them until crispy.

Another easy tip was to use pre-cooked salmon fillets that have been smoked. You can find these in the supermarkets next to the fresh fillets. They have a great smokey flavour and saves you time cooking the fillets yourself. Of course you can used unsmoked salmon too, just cook the salmon in the oven and leave to cool before making your mix.

So here’s what I did. Serves two.

Ingredients:

• 2 cooked salmon fillets (smoked)
• 1 handful chopped spring onions
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander
• 1 handful sweetcorn
• 1 egg
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 1 pinch sesame seeds (to garnish)
• Sweet chilli sauce (to serve)

Curry paste:

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 thumb size galangal (or ginger), peeled
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1/2 stick lemongrass
• 1 whole shallot, peeled
• 1/2 juice of a lime
• 1 red chilli
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp fish sauce

Method:

• To make the curry paste, place all of the ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth.
• Remove the skin from your salmon fillets and using two forks, flake up the salmon.
• In a large bowl, add your flaked salmon, curry paste, and all of the remaining ingredients. Mix together and place in the fridge to firm up.
• Once firm, divide your mix into four and shape into fishcakes. Squeeze out any excess liquid as you do this.
• In a frying pan, add a tablespoon of oil and lightly fry the fishcakes. Cook until golden brown on all sides.
• Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve with a big salad, sweet chilli sauce, prawn crackers and enjoy!

Thanks for reading and check out my website at www.jbimagery.co.uk 🙂