These Thai Fish Cakes are even yummier with prawn mince and chunks. Easy to make at home with real authentic Thai flavours
Thai Fish and Prawns Cakes
These Thai-inspired Fish Cakes have authentic flavours but with an exciting addition of prawns. There are ground prawns and chunks of prawns added to the fish paste. This means you’ll get irresistible bites of prawns in the fish cake. It’s like finding delicious hidden treasure!
With aromatic and complex Thai flavours associated with fish cakes, we would automatically assume they’re difficult to make at home. The good news is, this is not actually true. If you own a food processor, then making these fish cakes is pretty effortless. You’ll still get that unique bouncy texture similar to the ones we get at Thai restaurants.
These tasty cakes comprise fish, prawns, red curry paste, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, coriander and spring onions. Serve them as a starter, or with rice for a satisfying and filling meal.
It was my sister Nara who inspired me to make homemade Thai Fish Cakes. Nara doesn’t cook so when I’m not around to cook for her, she’ll turn to her stash of easy meals. This includes noodles, microwave-packaged food and other frozen foods.
One time, I opened our freezer and an enormous bag fell out into my hands. They were a kilo of frozen Thai fish cakes, which obviously belonged to Nara. Out of curiosity, I cooked a few to try out. They didn’t taste awful, but they weren’t that great either. I’ll confidently say these homemade Thai fish and prawn cakes tasted SO MUCH better!
It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt
It’s been a frustrating last few months for me. I’ve been trying to get well after suffering from a severe ear infection. My doctor has prescribed 6 rounds of antibiotics as both of my ears are infected.
I had to have a break from creating new recipes and writing my post as it was challenging to focus with constant headaches, feeling unbalanced and having my ears pop.
How did I get my ear infection, you may ask? On one scorching hot weekend, we went for a swim at our local leisure centre’s pool.
I was floating on my belly with our toddler, Kai’s mini-inflated donut, when my husband, Tomi, put Kai on my back without my knowledge. The weight of Kai pushed me under, but luckily Tomi caught Kai just in time. It was innocent, silly fun, and we had a laugh about what happened.
My doctor advised my ears were infected by the bacteria in the pool water. He advised my ears should heal after 6 weeks! Needless to say, I’m over it already! My parents had Kai today and instead of cooking a storm, I was nursing a headache in bed!
Taking Kai to the doctors with me is very tricky. He can’t stay still and during my consultation, he climbed on a chair and cheekily said ‘I turn off the lights’. He also was trying to grab everything on the doctor’s desk. Luckily, our doctor thought he was cute and offered him a lolly, which made Kai bob uncontrollably on his chair excitedly.
Love Thai cuisine? So do we! Check these recipes out:
Thai Prawn and Pumpkin Curry
Thai Son in law Eggs
Papaya Salad with Prawns
Red Duck Curry with Lychees
Ingredients for Thai Fish Cakes with Prawns
White fish fillets – I used snapper fillets, but any firm white fish such as bream, barramundi, flathead or perch would work. If preferred, you could also use trout or salmon. Ask your fishmonger to remove the skin and bones for you.
Prawns – I used frozen peeled prawns, which were conveniently deveined and cleaned before packaging. If using frozen prawns, thaw them in the fridge before use. The weight of the prawns called for in this recipe is for ‘prawn meat’, so if you’re using prawns with shells, peel and clean them before weighing them.
Fish sauce – My favourite brand is Thai ‘Squid’ fish sauce, but any brand of fish sauce would work. Fish sauce is pungent with an intense fish smell, but it adds a unique salty savoury flavour to dishes. Supermarkets usually stock their fish sauce in the International section or purchase a bottle at an Asian grocer.
Red curry paste – My favourite brand is Thai ‘Maesri’ red curry paste. It’s affordable and comes in a small can. However, any good quality red curry paste would work too.
Kaffir lime leaves – A single kaffir lime leaf looks like there are two leaves conjoined together. These leaves are aromatic with a unique spiced citrus flavour. Greengrocers usually stock kaffir lime leaves near their herb section.
Rice flour is made by grinding raw rice into powder form, which means it’s gluten-free. You could swap rice flour with corn flour or cornstarch.
Subscribe to 3CatsFoodie’s FREE Newsletter
For the latest recipes and other fun stuff!
How to make Thai Fish Cakes with Prawns
Step-by-step guide with photos
Pat the prawns dry using paper towels. Take 1/2 cup of prawns and chop them roughly, then set aside away from the remaining prawns.
Remove the middle vein of the kaffir lime leaves, then roll them up and slice them thinly.
Place the prawns (not the chopped ones), fish, kaffir lime leaves, egg, curry paste, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar in a food processor. Pulse or whizz at low speed until a paste forms.
Transfer the fish and prawn paste into a large bowl. Add in the chopped prawns, spring onions, coriander, and rice flour, then mix well until combined.
Pour enough oil to cover the base of a large frying pan, then heat oil over medium-high heat. Carefully lower 3 or 4 fish and prawn paste into the oil, using a 1/4 cup cookie scoop if available.
Oil a flat spatula and use it to press the paste into flat patties. Cook for two minutes on each side or until golden. Remove the fish cakes from the pan and leave them on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath. Add in more oil if needed, when frying the remaining fish cakes.
Leftovers – Allow the Thai Fish Cakes to cool completely at room temperature, then transfer them into a sealed container and store them in the fridge for up to 3 days. When frozen they’ll keep for 3 months.
I’ve used a third-party application to calculate the calories and nutritional information, so please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements. For specific details and conversions, visit our Australian Cooking Measurements page.
I would love your feedback and support if you made this recipe. To do this, please rate this recipe and provide a comment by scrolling down this page or by clicking that green circle on the bottom left. An email address is required (for spam), but it won’t be published. I would also love to see your dish, so don’t forget to tag me on my Instagram account ‘3catsfoodie’
Cheers – Cat T
Thai Fish Cakes with Prawns
Ingredients
- 300 gm raw prawn/shrimp meat (weighed without shells) (NOTE 1)
- 650 gm white fish fillets (skinless and boneless, chopped roughly) (NOTE 2)
- 1 large egg
- 4 kaffir lime leaves (2 conjoined leaves) (NOTE 3)
- 3½ tbsp red curry paste (NOTE 4)
- 2 tbsp fish sauce (NOTE 5)
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp sugar
- ⅓ cup thinly sliced spring onions
- 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander/cilantro
- ¼ cup rice flour (NOTE 6)
- vegetable oil for frying (or any neutral oil)
Instructions
- Pat the prawns dry using paper towels. Take 1/2 cup of prawns and chop them roughly, then set aside away from the remaining prawns.
- Remove the middle vein of the kaffir lime leaves, then roll them up and slice them thinly.
- Place the prawns (not the chopped ones), fish, kaffir lime leaves, egg, curry paste, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar in a food processor. Pulse or whizz at low speed until a paste forms.
- Transfer the fish and prawn paste into a large bowl. Add in the chopped prawns, spring onions, coriander, and rice flour, then mix well until combined.
- Pour enough oil to cover the base of a large frying pan, then heat oil over medium-high heat. Carefully lower 3 or 4 fish and prawn paste into the oil, using a 1/4 cup cookie scoop if available.
- Oil a flat spatula and use it to press the paste into flat patties. Cook for two minutes on each side or until golden. Remove the fish cakes from the pan and leave them on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath. Add in more oil if needed, when frying the remaining fish cakes.
