A recipe for Singha beer's Thai fishcakes with Ajut relish by Andy Oliver
Designed to bring out the best of Singha beer's 'Hoptails', this recipe from Som Saa's Andy Oliver is an instant classic
Serves 2
Preparation time 20 mins
Cooking time 6 mins
Ingredients
- 400 g skinless white fish fillet, e.g. hake, gurnard, pollack or cod
- 3 tbsp good quality (ideally homemade) red curry paste
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp palm sugar
- 1 egg
- 4-6 kaffir lime leaves, shredded with a knife
- 2 tablespoons snake beans or green beans (sliced into thin discs)
- 1 tablespoon grachai (wild ginger), peeled and sliced at an angle (optional)
- Thai basil leaves, to serve
The Ajut relish
- 100ml distilled white vinegar
- 50ml water
- 150g white sugar
- Large pinch sea salt
- 2-3 pieces of Thai pickled garlic (optional)
- Fresh ginger, cut into batons
- Handful of diced cucumber
- 1 long red chilli, sliced
- 1-2 shallots, thinly sliced
Method
The Ajut relish
- First make the ajut base by boiling the vinegar, sugar, water and salt together briefly .
- Once boiled, turn the heat off and add the pickled garlic (if using).
- Set aside to cool, and then make the Ajut relish: mix the shallots, ginger, chilli and cucumber in a small bowl and pouring over enough of the sweet vinegar liquid to half cover.
The fishcakes
- First mix or grate the palm sugar into the fish sauce to melt the sugar.
- Now roughly chop the fish fillet and place it into a food processor.
- Pulse the fish in the blender until well mixed, then add the fish sauce and sugar mix, red curry paste and egg.
- Blitz again until smooth and slightly springy.
- Remove the mix to a bowl and fold through the sliced beans, kaffir lime leaf and sliced grachai (optional).
- Now form the mix into gold ball sized balls, and then squash them into irregular shaped discs.
- Deep fry these discs in a deep fat fryer until completely cooked through, throwing in a few Thai basil leaves towards the end.
- Drain on kitchen paper and serve with the deep-fried basil leaves over the top.
- Serve with the ajut relish on the side.
