Thai Fish Cakes and Noodle Salad

Lately, in the Brisbane kitchen, our dinner menu has been a little stale so I’ve been trying a few new weeknight meals. While some are not likely to grace our table again, some are absolute winners and this was certainly one of them.
Delicious Thai-flavoured fish cakes with a yummy noodle salad were easy to make and nicely filling, while being quite a healthy way to include fish in our diets. The recipe is low in fats and energy, and also has a minimal amount of sodium. The fish cakes and noodle salad are also a great combination together, with the cold noodle salad balancing out the heat from the chilli paste in the fish cakes.
Rest assured, the healthy aspects of this meal do not come at the cost of good flavours. The fresh herbs and spices make for a fragrant meal that takes only 20-30 minutes to get on the table.

Ingredients:

Fish Cakes

• 650g boneless firm white fish fillets, skin off, coarsely chopped (I used basa fillets that I buy frozen, and thawed before use)
• 4 fresh kaffir lime leaves, thinly shredded
• 1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves
• 1 egg white
• 1 fresh long red chilli (deseeded if you need less heat), thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup hot chilli sauce or sambal oelek
• 2 spring onions, roughly chopped
• cooking oil spray

Salad

• 100g vermicelli rice noodles
• 2 Lebanese cucumbers, halved lengthways, thinly sliced
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 100g fresh Asian-style salad leaves or mesclun mix
• 1 1/2 tbs toasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 2 tbs Thai-style dressing (available ready-made in the Asian section of the supermarket)

Place fish, lime leaves, spring onions, coriander, chilli, half the chilli sauce and the egg white in a food processor. Process until combined, shape into 16 small patties.

Cover the noodles with 1/3 cup of boiling water and top up with cold tap water. Leave for 15 minutes to soften.

Wash the salad leaves and combine in a bowl with the cucumber, spring onions and peanuts and set aside.

Spray a large frying pan with the cooking oil and place over medium-high heat. Cook the fish cakes for 2-3 minutes on each side. Cover for the last few minutes of cooking to gently cook through. Divide between four plates.

Drain the noodles, toss gently with the salad and add in the salad dressing. I felt I had to use my hands to adequately mix the salad without breaking the noodles, but that’s just my suggestion.

Divide the salad between the four plates and serve.

Enjoy this meal with family or friends; it is a very healthy addition to your weeknight dinner rotation, especially in summer.