Thai Fish Cakes With Thai Dipping Sauce

I've only attempted a few recipes from "Healthy Gluten-Free Eating," as they tend to be a bit involved—lots of chopping, steps, bowls, pans, sauces. I had bought some salmon from the neighborhood fishmonger, and I was happy to find a recipe in this book that wasn't too involved. Yes, there was lots of chopping, a sauce and a sauteing step before the actually frying, but it wasn't hard. This may be because I've gotten much more familiar with the ingredients from making a Thai soup. We have the nam pla and Thai chilies, and I know where to find kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass.

Enough typing. "Fabulous recipe. Love it! No additions." That's all I originally planned to write. Recipe is below with photos of the fishcakes. Oh, they still tasted excellent the next day and the day after that. I'm sure wheat and gram flour could also be used if rice flour isn't on hand—we used brown rice flour.

(click on image to enlarge)

Thai fishcake recipe (dipping sauce recipe below)

Formed fishcakes ready to be fried

Once they're in the frying pan, dinner is almost ready!

At least the sauce is an easy one

Fish in a Bag

Not a recipe really—just a comment that I love the ease of cooking fish, vegetables, herbs, seasonings, and what have you in an aluminum foil "bag." It's almost impossible to dry out the fish, as the close-enough-to-airtight environment covering the top and bottom of the ingredients with foil and sealing the edges provides keeps the juices from evaporating and makes the fish self basting. We usually heat the oven to 450º and give the fish about 30 minutes (longer if a thick fillet). The result is always a crowd pleaser.

Salmon fillet, purchased from the Newnham fishmonger, covered with basil, tomatoes, garlic, pepper and lemons.