Fish Cakes with Wasabi-Ginger Tartar Sauce

Fish Cakes
with Wasabi-Ginger Tartar Sauce

Serves 6

Instead of crab cakes, which you see on so many menus, we do fish cakes. It is a great way to use up those small ends of fresh fish fillets. Just about any combination of fish will do. We usually use mahi, snapper, ahi, halibut, and sea bass.

Wasabi-Ginger Tartar Sauce
2 cups good-quality mayonnaise
1 tablespoon wasabi paste
2 tablespoons pickled chopped ginger
1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice

Fish Cakes
1 pound assorted fish fillets, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion, white part only
1/4 cup seeded and finely chopped red bell pepper
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons finely chopped flesh basil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup good-quality mayonnaise
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon fleshly ground black pepper

2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1/2 cup peanut oil
Lime slices, for garnish
Cucumber slices, for garnish

To prepare the sauce, in a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise and wasabi paste until well blended. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

To prepare the cakes, in a bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Form into cakes about 2-1/2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick. You should have 6 cakes. Coat the cakes evenly with the panko, cover, and chill for 1 hour.

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. In batches, add the cakes and fry, turning once, for 2-1/2 to 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown.

To serve, place a fish cake atop a pool of tartar sauce on each plate. Garnish with lime and cucumber slices.

Buy the Book!

The Hali'imaile General Store Cookbook:
Home Cooking from Maui
By Beverly Gannon with Bonnie Friedman
Ten Speed Press, February 2001
Hardcover, $ 35.00
224 pages, full-color photographs
ISBN: 1-58008-170-3
Recipe reprinted by permission.