Thai Crab and Fish Cakes

Thai Crab and Fish Cakes

Give yourself plenty of time so the flavors of the seafood mixture have time to develop in the refrigerator for a few hours.

Ingredients

-for Crab cake

• 1 / 4 cup vegetable oil (we used canola)

• 1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon fine-chopped ginger root

• 2 large garlic cloves, minced

• 4 scallions, white part only, chopped

• 2 teaspoons green curry paste*

• 1 / 2 stalk fresh lemongrass, finely chopped*

• 1 pound (about 2 1 / 3 cups) plain mashed potatoes**

• 1 / 4 cup chopped cilantro

• 1 1 / 2 pounds steamed or poached fish, well drained, dried and flaked (we used tilapia)

• 1 (6-ounce) can crab meat, well drained and dried (we used Bumble Bee Fancy White)

• 1 / 2 cup cooked salad shrimp, diced***

• Salt, to taste

-for Coconut Coating:

• 1 / 2 cup all-purpose flour

• 2 large eggs, beaten

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

• 1 cup flaked sweetened coconut

• Oil, for deep frying

To make cakes: Heat the vegetable and sesame oils in a medium skillet over medium heat. Saute the ginger, garlic and scallions about 2 minutes or until soft and aromatic but not brown.

Add the curry paste and lemongrass and heat through. Remove from the heat and allow to cool 10 minutes.

Place the mashed potatoes in a large mixing bowl and stir in the heated oil mixture. Add the cilantro, fish, crab meat, shrimp and salt; mix well. Cover and refrigerate up to

8 hours to allow the flavors to develop and the mixture to firm up slightly.

To make coating and finish the cakes: Form the mixture into balls the size of golf balls weighing about 2 ounces each; you should have about 24. Place the flour in one bowl, the eggs in another and combine the bread crumbs and coconut in a third.

Roll each ball in the flour, dip in the beaten eggs and let excess drip off and then coat with the coconut mixture. Place on a paper towel-lined wire rack 15 to 20 minutes to allow the coating to dry and make for better deep frying.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

In a deep saucepan or a deep fryer, heat about

2 1 / 2 inches oil to 350 degrees. Carefully add the prepared cakes (you will need to do this in several batches so they are not crowded and the oil remains at a constant temperature). Fry them 3 to 5 minutes until they are golden brown.

Remove to a baking sheet and place in the oven until all are cooked. (You can cook them about an hour ahead and keep them warm in the oven until serving.) Makes about 24 cakes.