Name: Maluku Fish Cakes with Spiced Prawns
Yield: for 8 as a starter or 12-16 as canapés
Cuisine: Asia
Ingredients: groundnut or sunflower oil, for frying; 1 tsp cornflour dissolved in 1 tbsp water; 3 tsp coriander seeds, roasted then roughly crushed; 2 garlic cloves, chopped; white of 1 egg; 1 tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil; 450 g/ 1 lb skinless mackerel fillets; 1 tsp brown sugar; fresh Tomato Sambal, to serve; 1 tsp chopped lemon grass (soft inner part only); flat-leaf parsley, mint or coriander leaves, to garnish (optional); 1 tsp fish sauce (nam pla); 4 shallots, chopped; 16 large raw tiger prawns, tails on but shells and heads removed, deveined; 2 tsp cumin seeds, roasted then roughly crushed; ½ tsp salt; 4 tbsp tamarind water; 2 tsp chopped ginger; 2–4 fresh or dried bird’s-eye chillies, chopped; 1 tsp chopped fresh galangal; 115 g/ 4 oz blanched almonds, chopped

Preparation info

for
8
as a starter

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

New Wave Asian

By Sri Owen

Published 2002

About

Maluku is the Indonesian name for the group of islands known in English as the Moluccas. There these fish cakes are traditionally made with mackerel and cooked until quite rubbery in texture, but here they are lightly cooked and more delicately spiced. My twist is to suggest that you serve them with spiced tiger prawns, the combination making a very appetizing starter.

The best way to cook these fish cakes is in a deep-fryer as, if this is done well and quickly in oil that is good a