Fish cakes with Awesomesauce

I love and adore fish. In (almost) all shapes and sizes. It's a little tricky to get my hands on the good stuff here in Berlin, though, which is a shame. On the other hand, then I don't feel it to be such a sacrilege to chop the fishy into tiny bits of mush. Like in this fish cake recipe.

I've been pretty sceptical about fish cakes in general since I had some in the University which were so appallingly bad that it almost put me off them for good. I've had better luck since, but they still hadn't become a favourite. This recipe does tip the scales to the other direction, namely the direction of awesomeness, though!

And since it's me and I love to bury everything under a delicious puddle of sauce, this recipe wouldn't be anything without the home made sriracha mayo. You can also buy both parts, the sriracha (which is a chili sauce for those who think it sounds like something of a Cthulhu monster. Cthulhu also doesn't ring a bell? Well, never mind. It's a chili sauce, yeah? That's all you need to know. Sriracha, I mean. Not Cthulhu. But I'm sure you catch my drift...) and the mayo, or you can make either or both yourself. I decided to take the homemade road, since I didn't want any additives or processed sugar in my sauce, and boy did it turn out DELISH! The only slight disappointment was the not-so-spiciness of the chilis I used. Make sure you choose properly hot ones to get more kick, or leave (at least some of) the seeds in.

The sriracha takes time to cool, so if you're making it yourself (Do try! It's soooo good!), either make it beforehand or take a small portion and stick it into the freezer for a little while to cool it down enough to be mixed with the mayo.

Fish cakes with superawesome sriracha mayo

Cake recipe again from the lovely Syötävän hyvä, Sriracha from Nomnompaleo and mayo from Herkkusuun lautasella

makes about 6 cakes


Cakes

ca. 400 g salmon

half of a red bell pepper (ca. 1 dl of cubes)

6 tbsp almond meal

1 egg

1/2 tsp soy sauce / tamari

1 tsp lemon juice

a dash of garlic powder

generously salt


Sriracha 

(I made half a portion, but here's the whole recipe)


700 g fresh red jalapeno peppers / chilis, stemmed seeded and roughly chopped

8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

3 tbsp tomato paste

3 tbsp honey

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 1/2 tsp salt


Mayo

1 egg

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 dl neutral oil (I used sunflower)

some white pepper

some salt



To serve: mayonnaise, sriracha (or other chili sauce), rucola/salad, avocado, sesame seeds


Prepare sriracha and mayo first, or use shop bought.

Sriracha

Prep chilies. Pro tip: use gloves. Throw all ingredients into a high speed blender. Puree until smooth or leave a little chunkier, as you please. Pour into a saucepan/skillet, bring to boil. Reduce to low heat and let simmer for 5-10 min, stirring occasionally. By cooking the sauce we strengthen the flavour and cut the sharpness of raw garlic. Once the foam subsides, the sauce should be bright red and you shouldn't be able to detect any raw veggie smell. Taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer into sterilized glass jars (sterilize by soaking in boiling water for a minute or so) and let cool. If you're using it straight away with the fish cakes, take out a small portion and stick it into the freezer while you make the mayo.

Mayo

Pour all ingredients except the oil into a stick mixer jar. Keep the mixer in the bottom of the jar, start mixing and pour in the oil in a thin trickle while mixing. When the mayo is done, adjust taste. I added a little more mustard.

Cakes

Make sure to buy a de-skinned fish fillet, or remove skin by yourself if you know how. Chop salmon into small cubes either with a knife or give it a couple of pulses in a food processor. Try to leave it a bit chunky though, so don't blitz it into a puree.

Chop the pepper into small cubes, the smaller the better. I had slightly more cubes than 1 dl, and the cakes turned out great.

Mix the "dough" and pat into flat cakes. I don't remember how many I made, but the recipe says it should be roughly six.

Cook in butter/oil for about 3-4 mins per side. Watch out not to overcook, since no one likes dry salmon.

Mix about 3 tbsp of mayo with 1 tbsp of sriracha, or do a mixture that better suits your taste buds. Serve cakes with mayo, rucola and avocado. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Done!

Pistachio crusted salmon with fresh take on coleslaw

And there's more! The crowd goes wild! A whole onslaught of posts is coming your way, as you may or may not have noticed. And they're all amazing. The food, I mean. And the posts are pretty nice too ;)

 Here's another main dish, fresh from mom's kitchen (made by yours truly, of course). If there's something I've been craving protein-wise while I was travelling, it is definitely fish. The fish in Finland is so good and plentiful, that we've been having it for almost every meal since my return. The fresh water fishes are super yummy, but salmon is still my all-time favourite. The traditional way of preparing it (at least in our kitchen) has to do with smothering the poor thing in sour cream and/or cheese, which makes the dish rather heavy. So, when I saw this take on a traditional fish dish on Syötävän hyvä, I jumped at the chance. Pistachios and salmon! Oh boy, that cannot be bad. And it wasn't, let me tell you. Especially with the super fresh side of kohlrabi, apple and carrot.

A plateful of awesomeness that doesn't leave you sluggish or bloated afterwards. What more can a girl ask for?

(Well, some sweet treats. But there will be a post very soon on that front. Stay tuned!)

So, drumroll, please: Mr. Salmon meets Miss Slaw. A match made in heaven!

 

Pistachio salmon meets kohlrabi apple slaw

(original recipe here, in Finnish)

Part 1: Mr. Salmon

300–400 g salmon fillet

ca. 1 dl pistachio nuts (ca. 250 g salted and roasted pistachios in the shell) 

1–2 tbsp Dijon mustard

chives

parsley

salt + pepper

Peel and chop nuts. If you're using ready-shelled nuts, check if they're already salted. If not, roast on a pan and salt. Crush nuts. Mix with mustard and a generous helping of chopped chives and parsley. 

Cut the salmon into portion sized pieces. Line baking sheet with baking paper, place salmon pieces skin-down on the paper. Sprinkle salt (can be quite a lot) and pepper (a little less) on the fish. Cover with the pistachio-mustard-mush. 

Bake in 200 degrees for about 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish bits. Don't overbake! Nobody likes dry fish...

Part 2: Miss Slaw

1 part kohlrabi

1 part green apple

0,5 part carrot (just for the colour splash, you know)

a little mayonnaise

a little olive oil

small squeeze of lemon

salt + pepper to taste

Grate kohlrabi, apple and carrot. Mix with the rest of the ingredients. Introduce to Mr. Salmon.