Bengali Fishcakes with a Wasabi Tartare Sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bengalis call anything that’s been “egged-and-breaded” a chop although these are really just jazzed up fishcakes.  My mum used to make me these addictive fishcakes after school and I’ve noticed that a lot of my Punjabi friends make “store cupboard curries” from tins of tuna so perhaps our parents  had a bit of a “make do and mend” attitude when they first came over here. I had some spare wasabi floating around in the fridge and found that the robust flavours paired exquisitely.

There’s something really satisfying about knowing that a delicious, healthy meal can be thrown together from store cupboard ingredients and if you make too many you can always freeze them after egging and crumbing. These addictive fishcakes are spiked with lemony notes of ginger, and the dressing is piquant and creamy with a mulish after-kick of wasabi.

Ingredients

for the fishcakes
1 tin of good quality tuna in olive oil
5-6 small potatoes, peeled
1 small onion or 2 shallots
2 inches of fresh ginger
1/2 green chilli (optional)
3 garlic cloves
a good pinch of cayenne pepper
nutmeg
salt
1 egg
a couple of handfuls of breadcrumbs (I like Panko)
vegetable oil

for the dressing
3 tbsp yoghurt
1 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp wasabi paste
1 tsp soy sauce
1 gherkin finely chopped
1 tsp capers, drained and finely chopped

roughly chopped salad of spinach, parsley, lettuce, tomatoes

Method

– boil the potatoes until soft and while they are boiling blitz the ginger, garlic,onion and chilli if using into a blender
-Empty the tuna and its oil into a mixing bowl. Add the boiled potatoes and mash together.
-Add the onion, ginger and garlic mixture and mix well.
-Season with the nutmeg, salt and cayenne.
-Form into small patties and chill
-Heat oil in a pan and combine the dressing ingredients
-beat the egg and dip the fish chops into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs and fry until golden.
-Pour the dressing over the salad and serve the fish chops with lemon wedges and steamed basmati brown rice
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Tags: Bengali, cheap, fish, fish cake, healthy, store-cupboard