Sawasdee Ka: Easy Fish Cakes and Zucchini Salad

Chinese new year has come and gone. Now, we are left with added pounds in the gut and leftover food. We just had a huge hot pot at home and, yes, there were loads left from the spread.

So what I did, two days after the lunar new year, was make a fish cake (Tod Mun Pla) from the left overs that we have. And since I’ve made another kitchen gadget purchase (a spiralizer!), I made a side salad as well.

Thai Fish Cake

Ingredients

1 can Tuna Flakes in Olive Oil
150 g Fish Balls, chopped (This is the leftover from the hotpot, if not using, double the amount of Tuna Flakes instead)
2 Tbsp Thai Red Curry
1 egg, beaten
4 Tbsp corn starch
Zest of 1 Lemon (or use Kaffir lime, I used lemon because I didn’t find any lime or Kaffir lime leaves in the shop)
20 pcs French Beans, cut in small pieces
1 Thumb ginger, grated
bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees celcius. I just recently bought an air fryer and it works wonders on everything. Set your Air Fryer settings on 180 degrees celcius
2. Blend tuna flakes, fish balls, red curry, egg, corn starch, lemon zest, ginger. If not using blender, make sure everything is chopped finely and mix together.
3. Pour mixture in a deep dish and fold in beans and chopped fresh coriander.
4. Shape into balls (golf sized) and pat it flat with your three fingers.
5. Place in air fyer and cook for 12-15 minutes. You can either make it 7-8 minutes on each side. If you’re using oven, set it at 190 and cook for 15 – 20 minutes. Using these two cooking options ensures a healthier option for your fish cakes.
6. Serve with a Thai chili dip.

Thai Zucchini Salad

This is another experiment of mine using my newly bought (second hand) spiralizer. This tool is so cool and perfect for those who are doing paleo diet who looking for healthy alternatives to pasta such as zucchini noodles, etc. That or I’m following too much paleo / healthy instagram accounts.

Ingredients

3 large zucchinis, cut into long thin strips or use spiralizer 😉
1/2 of a large red onion
1 chili padi
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped toasted almonds
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt

Dressing

1 chili padi
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
2 tbsp ginger, minced
1/4 cup green onion
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup coconut milk

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix all ingredients for your dressing. What I do is put them all together in a glass bowl with lid, close the lid and shake all the ingredients like there’s no tomorrow! Set aside.
2. Squeeze the water out of the zucchini by pressing a kitchen towel on top of it (while it sits on a colander)
3. Place zucchini in a deep dish bowl and lightly mix together chopped onion, cilantro, chili and salt in the bowl.
4. Sprinkle sesame seeds and toasted almonds on top.
5. Drizzle your dressing on top. You can go full on with the dressing or just enough as desired.
6. Serve fresh!

Hope you enjoy these quick and fresh lovely Thai treats. If you’re really not into spicy food, limit red curry paste (in fish cake) and chili (in zucchini salad). These recipes do not promise to take you to the Land of Smiles, but, hopefully, it reminds you of that sidewalk treat you had while there.

Do you have a similar recipe that you want to share?