Mother-in Law Comes Over - Attempt Number Two

Well, we are trying again. Else is coming over to see us. The sun is shining so she shouldn't cancel at the last minute. I am cooking, but not lasagna this time. A little cook book browse and I selected this one from the shelf -

We shall have the Thai-Style Fish Fingers with Frothy Lime and Lemongrass Infused Hollandaise. Will we hell! We are having Thai-Style Crab Cakes which is the same recipe for all intents and purposes, but without the poncy title (or the hollandaise which I have made from scratch before but will not be repeating the feat today). These crab cakes are lovely and all you need to serve them with is sweet chili sauce, not hollandaise. Way easier!

You can go out and buy fresh crab, the recipe calls for 200g. I ignore that because I pick up tins of crab occasionally and then they are there when I need them and I don't go into heart failure trying to pay for a number of tins at the same time. I also use way more crab and potato than the recipe calls for because my beasties can eat - a lot! I used three tins of crab which is about 360g of crab meat once the tins are drained.

First, the most mundane of the tasks. Peal and cook about 400g of potatoes. Mash and leave to cool while you get on with the other parts of the recipe.

Take some of my favourite ingredients -

- and grate/crush/chop them finely. Take the spring onions, garlic, ginger and chili and gently cook with a knob of butter until softened. 

Beat two egg yolks and one teaspoon of fish sauce into the cooled mashed potatoes.

I've only put in the above photo because I like the lurid yellow of my egg yolks.

Take everything - the potatoes, crab meat, coriander and the chili/ginger/etc and put in a bowl -

- and give it a really good mix until everything is blended. Form into small round cakes. Beat the egg whites (leftover after putting the yolks in the potatoes) until they are light and frothy. Mix breadcrumbs and coconut in a ratio of about two to one. Dip the cakes into the egg white and then the breadcrumb/coconut mixture ensuring that the crab cakes are well coated.

Fry gently until golden brown. Serve with sweet chili sauce, and whatever else you would like. These are lovely with salad on a summers day. You can have noodles with them if you require something more substantial. A oriental pickled cucumber, red onion and chili salad also works as a great side dish.

Hope you didn't pull as many weeds out of your garden as I did today. I didn't get any proper sewing done (again!) but I did get over 100 thread ends sewed into the mini quilt to hide them. That was a lot of thread ends! I really do have to do more prior planning next time I make a quilt like this.

Susan