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Sarah Tildesley’s fragrant Bengali fishcakes
Serves 16 small cakes, enough to serve 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 300g floury potatoes (such as Maris Piper), peeled and cut into small cubes
- 300g boneless, skinless, sustainable white fish fillets
- groundnut oil, enough for shallow frying
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1-2 fresh green chillies, seeded and very finely chopped
- a piece fresh ginger, approx 3cm, finely grated or crushed
- 1 small onion, very finely chopped
- ½tsp turmeric
- 1tsp ground coriander
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
- a small bunch fresh coriander, stalks finely chopped
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1tbsp plain flour
To serve
- shredded white and red cabbage and sliced red onion, dressed with lime juice and toasted coriander seeds
Method
First, put a steamer over simmering water so it can get nice and hot. When it’s ready, put in the potato cubes (keeping a piece back) and cook for 5 minutes, or until they are cooked through. Remove and set aside to cool a little. Drain any excess moisture.
Gently heat a glug of the groundnut oil in a frying pan. Add the garlic, chillies, ginger and onion, and sizzle together. Then add all the other spices, a generous pinch of salt and pepper, and the finely chopped stalks from your coriander.
Once the onion has softened, add the potato and fish to the frying pan, with another splash of oil if needed, and cook until the ingredients are dry. Mix well to combine, then mash everything together in the pan with a fork. Add the egg, the coriander leaves and the flour and shape into 16 walnut-sized balls.
Heat your groundnut oil for frying – you should aim for the oil to be about 2cm deep in an accommodating frying pan. To test when the oil is ready, take a piece of potato and gently drop it into the hot oil – if it starts to fizz, you’re good to go.
Gently squash each ball to form a patty. Don’t worry if they break up a little around the edges; it will make the cakes crispy. Fry the patties, very carefully, in batches for 1-2 minutes on each side until golden, then remove with a slotted spoon to transfer them on to kitchen paper.
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