Tod Man Pla or Thai Fish Cakes

Tod Man Pla or Thai Fish Cakes with red curry favour is a popular and well known dish. You can find this dish at street vendors to fancy restaurants in Bangkok. Original or in Thailand this dish is made from Clown featherback or Clown knifefish which is Southeast Asian fresh water fish. The textures of fish cakes from this kind of fish are tough, firm and resiling so this kind of fish is ideal for making fish cakes and fish balls. Fish balls in Thailand, are original from Chinese cuisine, and are made from king mackerel or mackerel family fish.

Some Thai people use mackerel fish the kind that we have in Thai sea for making fish cake as well but it’s not that popular, because people have fixed the idea to the original one. Here we can find fresh king mackerel easily at a market so I use king mackerel for my fish cake recipe. The results from these two kinds of fish - Clown featherback and king mackerel, are very similar.

For the curry paste, we use red curry paste for the favour but it is not as spicy as the red curry. We use the same curry paste as Chu Chee curry, you can see the recipe on page Chu Chee curry- here.

In Thailand most people will deep-fry their fish cakes but you can also pan-fry the fish cakes as well.

*** I found the information of king mackerel substitutes:  Spanish mackerel OR shad OR bluefish OR herring OR small trout, the fish that has similar texture. 

For 13 - 14 pieces of fish cakes / size 2 ¼ inches x ¹⁄₃ inch

Ingredients

300 g                Fillets of king mackerel

4 tbsp               Curry Paste (see recipe from Chu Chee curry)

1                       Egg

¹⁄₃ cup              Snake Beans, cut into ¼ inch

6 – 7 leaves     Kaffir Lime Leaves, cut into very thin stripes

½ tsp               Potato or tapioca starch

Snake bean and Kaffir lime leaves

4 – 5 tbsp        Cold water (or about ¹⁄₃ cup)

2 tbsp              Fish sauce

Oil for frying

Instruction

1. Remove fish’s skin and bones by scratching it with a spoon. Ground the fish in mortar with pestle or food processor until paste like.
2. Remove fish paste to a mixing bowl, and add egg, fish sauce and potato starch. Start kneading, in the same time add cold water gradually 3 - 4 times, and knead and grab the fish dough throw it back to the bowl, basically beating the fish repeatedly until the mixer tough and bouncing. (This process originally, the bowl with the fish mixer will be sitting on the ice. Beating the cold fish mixer will create a nice bouncing texture – bouncing fish cakes. The same process is for making fish balls as well) 

   

   The process of making fish cakes

    
3. Add snake beans and kaffir lime leaves, and mix well
4. Heat a frying pan or wok on medium heat, and add oil. Mould the mixer into 2 ¼ inches x ¹⁄₃ inch or shape like cookies. And fry both sides until nice brown colour or cooked. Remove and drain oil on paper towels.
5. Serve with cucumber pickles (see recipe below)

 Cucumber pickles 

1              Cucumber

2 tbsp      Coriander, chopped

¹⁄₃ cup     Peanuts, ground (optional)

1              Fresh Thai chilli, chopped (optional)

½ cup     White vinegar

½ cup     Sugar

1 tsp       salt

Instruction

1. Mix vinegar, sugar and salt in a pot on medium heat. Boil until bubbling for 1- 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set a side until it is cool.
2. Cut cucumber into quarter in lengthwise and slice into ¼ thick. Pour into vinegar mixer in a serving bowl. Add chilli and peanuts, and mix well.
3. Garnish with coriander.