Thai-Style Fish Cakes with Herbal Salad
by Katie Webster
April 19, 2024 Jump To Recipe
Serve these flavorful, juicy and crisp Thai-style fish cakes with herbal salad as a light meal or appetizer.
This succulent Thai fish cake recipe was inspired by a delicious meal at a famous NYC Thai restaurant with an award-winning cookbook author, JJ Goode in 2014. I have updated it to share again today.
Ingredients
- White Fish: You can use either cod, tilapia or another white fish. You need 1 pound without skin or bones.
- Thai Red Curry Paste: Find this in the international raise in the grocery store.
- Lime Juice and Zest: Fresh lime zest adds flavor to the fish cake. After you zest it, juice it for the dressing. If you can find a lime leaf, mince it finely and use in place of the zest.
- Galangal: Galangal is a root closely related to both ginger and turmeric. Find it in the produce department with the ginger root. Sub 2 teaspoons grated ginger root if you can’t find it.
- Thai bird chilis: Try to find Thai bird chilis but if you can’t find them use minced habanero or Scotch bonnet to taste.
- Thai fish sauce: Thai fish sauce very fairly salty and pungent. If necessary you can sub in a Vietnamese fish sauce.
- Corn starch: This holds the cakes together.
- Sugar: Important to balance the flavors. Use either 5 teaspoons maple syrup or brown sugar
- Coconut oil: To pan fry the cakes
- Canola oil: for the dressing
- For the Herbal Salad: You’ll need fresh washed and torn basil leaves, cilantro and mint. To bulk it up, add either Romaine lettuce or Napa Cabbage to your shopping list. The other veggies are chopped scallion or green onion and julienne radish.
- Thai Sweet Chili Sauce: To serve
How to Make Thai Fish Cakes
Step 1: Make Fish Cake
Cut the fish into large chunks and place it in a food processor with the steel blade attachment. Add your cornstarch, the lime zest (or minced lime leaf), two tablespoons of the fish sauce, 1 tablespoon sugar or maple syrup, galangal (or ginger) and the Thai curry paste. Pulse the mixture to chop it and then process until the mixture comes together as a sticky rough ‘dough’.
Step 2: Form Into Cakes
Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Form fish mixture into 8 patties (1/4 cup each) with moist hands, and set on a baking sheet.
Step 3: Cook fish cakes
Heat 2 tablespoon coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 4 of the fish cakes and cook until browned on the bottom, 2 to 4 minutes. Carefully turn over and continue cooking, adjusting heat as necessary to prevent burning, until cooked through and the other side is browned, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining 2 tablespoons coconut oil and cakes, adjusting heat as necessary.
Step 3: Make Thai Herbal Salad
Whisk the remaining 2 teaspoons fish sauce, 2 teaspoons maple syrup, lime juice, canola oil and chili in a large bowl. Add Romaine (or Napa), scallion, radish and herbs and toss to coat. Divide salad among four plates top with the fish cakes and drizzle any remaining dressing from the bottom of the bowl over. Alternatively, arrange on a platter with a bowl of the sweet chilli sauce for dunking.
FAQs and Expert Tips
To make ahead, assemble the fish cakes but don’t cook. Place them in an airtight container with pieces of parchment paper placed in between each fish cake. Place in the fridge for 1-2 days or freeze for 1-2 months.
These are usually served as a starter at Thai restaurants, but you can serve them as a meal with jasmine rice or sticky rice.
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
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Thai-Style Fish Cakes with Herbal Salad
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Thai fish cakes with shredded herbal salad is an appetizer to share with sweet Thai dipping sauce or serve as a light dinner with freshly steamed rice.
Ingredients
- 1 pound uncooked boneless skinless white fish
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 teaspoon lime zest or 1 fresh kaffir lime leaf, minced
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce, divided
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons maple syrup (or brown sugar), divided
- 1 tablespoon grated galangal, or 2 teaspoons grated ginger root
- 2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil, divided
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh chili, preferably Thai bird chilis or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or more to taste
- 4 cups shredded Romaine or Napa cabbage
- 1 scallion, minced
- 1 cup julienne radish
- 1 cup loosely packed torn mixed basil leaves, cilantro and mint
- Thai Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce (optional)
Instructions
- Cut the fish into large chunks and place in a food processor with steel blade attachment. Add cornstarch, lime zest (or lime leaf), two tablespoons fish sauce, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, galangal (or ginger) and curry paste. Pulse and then process until the mixture comes together as a sticky rough ‘dough’.
- Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Form fish mixture into 8 patties (1/4 cup each) with moist hands, and set on a baking sheet.
- Heat 2 tablespoon coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 4 of the fish cakes and cook until browned on the bottom, 2 to 4 minutes. Carefully turn over and continue cooking, adjusting heat as necessary to prevent burning, until cooked through and the other side is browned, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining 2 tablespoons coconut oil and cakes, adjusting heat as necessary.
- Whisk the remaining 2 teaspoons fish sauce, 2 teaspoons maple syrup, lime juice, canola oil and chili in a large bowl. Add Romaine (or Napa), scallion, radish and herbs and toss to coat. Serve on a platter as an appetizer with the dipping sauce. Or divide salad among four plates top with the fish cakes and drizzle any remaining dressing from the bottom of the bowl over.
Notes
Make Ahead:
To make ahead, assemble the fish cakes but don’t cook. Place them in an airtight container with pieces of parchment paper placed in between each. Place in the fridge for 1-2 days or freeze for 1-2 months.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Thai
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cakes and 2 cups salad
- Calories: 222
- Fat: 11
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 23 g
Additional Recipes to Try
- This Maple Glazed Salmon is another fish weeknight dinner recipe.
- My recipe for Tilapia with Tangerine Salsa is divine and also uses galangal and cilantro.
- Try Turkey Pad Thai next.
- If you like slow cooker recipes, this Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Coconut Soup is for you.
- I’m obsessed with this 15 Minute Thai Curry Pumpkin Soup.
- I mean, who wouldn’t want to try this Grilled Thai Coconut Lime Skirt Steak?!
- Anything tastes good with this Tomatoes Thai Basil Dressing.
Katie Webster
Katie Webster studied art and photography at Skidmore College and is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. She has been a professional recipe developer since 2001 when she first started working in the test kitchen at EatingWell magazine. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines including Shape, Fitness, Parents and several Edible Communities publications among others. Her cookbook, Maple {Quirk Books} was published in 2015. She launched Healthy Seasonal Recipes in 2009. She lives in Vermont with her husband, two teenage daughters and two yellow labs. In her free time, you can find her at the gym, cooking, stacking firewood, making maple syrup, and tending to her overgrown perennial garden.
Katie, I loved experiencing this meal vicariously by reading this post. There’s nothing more exciting to me that a fantastic meal in a great restaurant, especially one like you described. I was in Thailand last year and I’ve been wanting to cook more Thai food. These tilapia cakes look so delicious and a great thing for me to be eating to lose those few extra holiday pounds. Your photographs are stunning as well!
I am so jealous of your trip. I would love to go some time. Ha ha yes these are the perfect prescription for ditching holiday pounds. Thanks so much Bill.
An amazing dinner with your family, Katie.
Those fish cakes look mouthwatering. I must make some for me (man in the house is not a fan of fish, except fish sticks)as I still have some cod in the freezer.
More for you! Ha ha. I had these for lunch and I have to say, I was glad I didn’t have to share.
I love Thai food. Thai fish cakes are so very different than the regular fish cakes, more spicy, more flavorful, and off course much more delicious.
First time on your blog and you have a a collection of delicious recipes. Following you.
Thank you Lail. I agree that when you are eating healthy food having plenty of flavor makes such a big difference. Thank you for the compliment, come back to visit soon!
Loved these, made them at home and they turned out very well. I had them with Sriracha. So Yumm
My husband I agreed these would be better if we had been able to find the bird chilis, so I am sure that the sriracha helped in the heat department. Thank you so much for coming back to tell me you made them, and I am so glad you liked them.
I always love hearing where people’s inspiration comes from–this looks soooo delicious Katie!
I agree. I also love being inspired. I need to get out more. Lol!
that dinner looks incredible!! totally jealous 🙂 and I’m thinking of dunking these fish cakes in a sweet chili sauce – I think the combo would be fabulous!
Christine,
Yes I think a sweet chili sauce would be amazing. JJ and I were emailing about that exact topic while I was developing this. There is a recipe for one in the book, page 276.
awesome! thanks for letting me know 🙂
OMG, what a great story — and looks like an even more amazing dinner!! I’m excited to see what other kinds of Pok Pok-inspired dishes you start coming up with.
I am really inspired. Why doesn’t everything taste like Thai Food, Thai chicken noodle soup, thai roasted chicken… I am just getting warmed up. I love the fresh herbs in everything, And fish sauce… What a magical ingredient.