Get Hooked on these Tuna Fishcakes, A Recipe

Fishcakes are a tasty snack originating from China that anyone with half of 1 hand can cook. China is also where the Tiananmen Square massacre happened. The origin story of fishcakes is a dumb, apocryphal tale, but what's more important is that pretty much err'body and their nan got in on the fishcake game, using all sorts of techniques to prepare leftover bits of cooked fish in a tasty way. 

You can' shallow fry 'em in a pan, deep fry em, boil 'em in broth, bake 'em, heck, you could probably microwave 'em too if you're a real madlad. 

Today's pan fried, tuna fishcake recipe comes from my main homebody, Chef Ramsay. You can check out his recipe here. Keep in mind that once you mix your canned tuna with fish sauce or Wooster sauce, salt, pepper, and egg, you can pretty much add whatever you like. 

That's right, there's no real recipe here, just a guide. And no, I'm not listing salt and pepper as an ingredient because you should automatically add salt and pepper whenever a meat is being cooked.  

Utensils

Rasp Grater 

2 Good, Trustworthy Hands

Cutting Board or Clean Counter Top

Chef's knife

A medium sized mixing bowl

Pan preheating on a stove on medium-low heat 

Fish Spatula

Ingredients And Prep

Ginger Root, 2 inch bit of it

Remove the rough skin with a veg peeler or pairing knife (watch those fingers!) and use your rasp grater to do the thing. Set aside your now pureed ginger.

1 Lime, Zest it

I know Gordon wants you to have kaffir lime leaves on standby but, c'mon, really? Instead, zest your lime dude. Make sure you're only zesting the green rind and not the white layer underneath. Once done, set your zest aside and then...

Juice that Same Lime

After mutilating your poor lime, cut it in half. Cut 1 of those halves into quarters to serve on the table, and juice the ever living heck outta the other half. 

Dill

I'm a dill fiend, ya'll. Chop a half tablespoon of this stuff or so to add to your tuna cake mix and tartar sauce later.

Cilantro, a small bunch

You'll want to rough chop a small bunch to add on top as a garnish or to add to your tartar sauce. I don't recommend adding it to the fish cake mix as it'll burn as the cakes fry in the pan (as you can see in my photos). If you don't have cilantro on hand, try parsley because cilantro and parsley are cousins.

Water Chestnuts

I'm gonna real with ya'll, this is a weird root veggie from a can that adds a crunchier texture to your fishcakes, but I don't think they're worth their cost or flavor. If you use 'em, rough-chop 'em up with a knife. If you don't wanna use 'em, take the $4 you've saved and buy more chilies. 

Chilies, 1 or 2

I love chilies, my dudes. These fishcakes should be spicy so take 1 or 2 of  whatever chilies look good to you, and dice 'em. Remember, the extreme heat is in the seeds, so remove them first if you're not about that #HotLyfe. Gordon's video of this recipe shows an excellent way on how to do so. 

Oh, and one more thing, fish isn't a very dense meat so the chili heat will be more detectable than the same amount of chilies in a thick curry, for example. Just something you should keep in mind.

Spring Onion, 1 or 2 stalks

Also known as green onion, you just need one stalk. Most markets sell a bunch of 'em for, like, 1 dollar. Cut your stalk of spring onion in whatever size you like, but do keep in mind the thicker your disc, the harder it may be to form a tuna cake. Obviously, discard the end where the roots attach.  

5oz Cans of Flaked Tuna Drained, 3

The higher quality canned tuna, the better. To drain it, dump your cans into a mesh sieve or pasta strainer and press with a fork to get rid of the extra water. Don't skip this step unless you like boiled tuna soup. 

You'll know when you've gotten rid of the extra water when your meat has a crumbly texture, almost like cookie dough. I know that's super vague, but it's one of 'em things where after you've done it once or twice you'll know how much water to squeeze out the 3rd time. Also, even if you don't squeeze out enough water and your cakes fall apart in the pan as you cook 'em, toss the crumbled bits over buttered bread with pickles and tartar sauce and you're golden. 

Fish Sauce, roughly 1 tablespoon

We'll use this to add back whatever fishy flavor is lost in canned tuna. Be aware that the unami, fish flavor is powerful in fish sauce so be sure to taste test before adding more fish sauce when it comes down to it.

You can also use Wooster sauce instead. Wooster sauce, by the way, is what we Americans call Worcestershire sauce. I like to say Wooster sauce because it's much easier to say.

2 Eggs

Show no mercy and beat them real good. Also, when beating eggs, remember to go around the sides of the eggs because you really want to incorporate the egg white into the yolk.  

Olive Oil, 1 tablespoon or so

Any oil will work, from peanut to leftover bacon grease. Pleeeeaaase don't add your oil to your hot pan until you're ready to start cooking.

We're nearly ready to cook. Combine everything in a mixing bowl with your 2 fresh hands. I highly suggest adding yer eggs after doing a taste test for seasoning. Salt and pepper works for seasoning, so too does seasoning salt, MSG, old bay... Use what you want.  Once done, add your egg, mix well again, and finally form tiny patties no wider than 3 of your fingers across. 

If you have fat fingers, then 2 fingers across is what you want. 

Let's now begin cooking.

Cooking

1. Add your oil to your hot pan. Once your oil begins to shimmer and lightly smoke, move on to the next step.

2. Add your cakes to the pan in a clockwise pattern, being sure to leave enough room between each for a spatula to flip 1 fishcake without tearing apart the nearby fishcakes. Lay each cake away from you, too, to make sure oil doesn't splash you in the eyes. Double also, you should hear a sizzling but if you hear sharp, spitting noises and see lots of smoke, your heat is too high.

3. Each cake should take 1 minute, maybe 2 on each side. To check, designate one fishcake as your tester and flip him over to see if he's golden brown. Once you've determined it's time to flip, flip each and cook for another 2 minutes or so. When they're done, remove 'em from your pan and serve with tartar sauce, your lime wedges, and cilantro. 

Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy ya'll.