Indian-style Fishcakes

Description
There is nothing better to relax and de-stress than to do some cooking. At least that's what I do anyway. And this month has been so stressfully eventful - that I decided to waste away this Sunday afternoon preparing tonight's dinner. Indian-style fishcakes. Here's what you'll need

Ingredients

 * 2 eggs
 * 3 or 4 spring onions
 * some freshly mashed potato - 3 medium sized ones will do
 * some firm white fish - no bones, no skin - I used cod fillets (around 350 grams)
 * some spices: 2 heaped teaspoons of garam masala, one heaped of ground coriander, 1 teaspoon of salt
 * some pulped ginger - a couple of chunks from your freezer (thawed of course)
 * a couple of red "bullet" chillies
 * some fresh coriander leaf
 * and some breadcrumbs
 * you will also need some vegetable oil to shallow fry the fishcakes in.

Directions
First peel and chop the potatoes - and boil them until they are soft. Then drain and place into a bowl that you will subsequently mash them in after they have cooled down.



Mash them up - and then set aside to cool. Whilst the Potato is cooling - prepare the fish. You can use whatever fish you like - I have used tinned Tuna before - but today I used frozen cod steaks - which you can easily find in the freezer section of your local supermarket. See the picture below for the sort that I used. It must be skinless and boneless - as this is so much easier to deal with.



Just stick the frozen fish steaks in some foil in the oven - following the instructions on the packet - and open it all up when it is cooked so that it can cool down.



By the time the fish is done and cooling - add the ground spices (and the pulped ginger) to the the mashed Potato mix - and stir in thoroughly. Chop up the spring Onion and fresh red chillie - as finely as you can.



Stir in the chillie and Onion into the spiced mash Potato mix - and also toss in a few sprigs of coriander leaf. I used some previously frozen chopped coriander which we always keep in our freezer. Very convenient.



Then - when the fish has cooled down - toss it into the mashed Potato bowl - and stir it all around so that the fish is flaked thoroughly. And then prepare two small bowls: crack the two eggs into one bowl - and beat them up - and then fill up another small bowl with breadcrumbs. Again - you can easily get hold of ready-to-go breadcrumbs from the supermarket - see the picture below for the stuff that used.



What you need to do is to pour one eggs worth of the beaten egg mixture into the mashed Potato and fish bowl - and stir it all up with your hands. Then use your hands to scoop up the potato-fish mixture and roll into little patties - which you should then dip into the remaining beaten egg - and then dip into the breadcrumb bowl - turning over a few times to ensure that the fishcakes are covered in breadcrumbs evenly. When you have prepared all the fishcakes - heat up a frying pan with about 1 cm deep of sunflower oil - and when it's hot - put the fishcakes carefully into the pan.



Keep the fishcakes moving gently - and turn over a few times to ensure that they are evenly browned on all sides. When they are done - leave them to rest on a plate with absorbent kitchen paper - and then prepare your salad!



I made a salad of cooked, thin, French beans, red onion, tomato and cucumber - all tossed in balsamic vinegar and French dressing. I reheated (baked) the fishcakes in the oven for about 15 minutes prior to serving - and then served them with the salad to a table surrounded by very hungry people.



Recipe by Route 79
From London: By a British, European, 2nd-Generation Indian. Probably confused - but proud to be them all! Half of my journey to and from work is a 20-30 minute bus ride: London Bus Route 79 - between Alperton in West London and Kingsbury in North West London. I very frequently get pissed-off and frustrated waiting around in the DARK, WET and COLD - waiting for the 79 to turn up. But I have to be eternally grateful for the quality thinking time I get to myself.