Spicy Tuna Fish Cakes

These are from Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking and they will completely revolutionize the image that springs into your head when someone says "fish cake." They are fresh, lively, and absolutely delicious.

Notes: we made this with tuna canned in water and they seemed rather dry. Later I realized that tuna packed in oil is much more common and would be a better choice both for moisture and (possibly) to help hold them together better.

We couldn't find the kaffir lime leaves and, behold, the dish was delicious without them!

Spicy Tuna Fish Cakes

1 pound good-quality tinned tuna (we used four 6-ounce cans)
6 tinned water chestnuts, drained and finely sliced
3 green onions, trimmed and sliced
1" piece of ginger, peeled and grated
3 tablespoons chopped coriander
1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped
3 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped (rehydrated for 5 minutes in boiling water if dried)
2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce
2 eggs, beaten
Vegetable oil, for frying
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Dipping Sauce:
Good pinch of sugar
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 tablespoons chopped coriander


First make the dipping sauce. Mix together all the sauce ingredients, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Taste and adjust the flavours as necessary. Set aside.

Drain the tuna and place in a bowl; use a fork to separate the chunks. Add the water chestnuts, spring onions, ginger, coriander, chilli and lime leaves and season with salt and pepper.

Add the fish sauce and beaten eggs. Mix well.

Squeezing the mixture to tightly compress it and get rid of any excess liquid, shape it into balls the size of golf balls. Flatten them lightly into patties.

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat, add a little oil and shallow-fry the fishcakes on each side for 1–2 minutes until golden on all sides and heated through. Serve with the dipping sauce.