Tod mun pla, or fried fish cakes, is a popular dish from Thailand. The best I’ve eaten were in Bangkok, where a street food vendor was frying them as fast as she could for a line of eager customers. Thai fish cakes are different from the tender, lightly seasoned version you get outside Asia.
In many Asian cuisines a “bouncy” texture is prized – meatballs, seafood balls and fish cakes have a resilience that is almost, but not quite, chewy. This texture is achieved by vigorous mixing of the fish (or meat or seafood) paste, either beating it in a machine, or by repeatedly picking up handfuls of the paste and throwing it back into the bowl.
The base of these fish cakes is fresh (uncooked) ground fish paste, which you can find at Asian seafood markets. Seafood vendors take inexpensive fish, fish scraps and whatever fresh fish is left from the day before and chop and pulverise it to make the paste. You can make it yourself, but it is much more economical (and easier) to buy it.
Tass, the excellent home cook I learned this recipe from, recommends mixing two types of fish paste – one seasoned (primarily with salt) and the other plain. She says the seasoned paste on its own is too salty for this recipe (it is often used to make fish balls, or as a stuffing for fried vegetables or bean curd), while the plain one is too bland.
If the market only has plain fish paste, mix in salt to taste, along with other seasonings such as ground white pepper and finely minced chun pei (dried tangerine peel). If you can buy only seasoned fish paste, grind or very finely mince raw fish fillets and mix them in to tone down the saltiness.
Makrut lime leaves (also called kaffir lime leaves) come in pairs; you will need four to six pairs for this dish, depending on their size.
Tass recommends using the Namjai brand of Thai red curry paste.
I like to double-fry the fishcakes: the first frying is to cook them, the second – just before serving – is to reheat them. The first frying can be done just before the second frying, or up to two hours in advance.
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