Prawn Cakes

Shrimp Pancakes

Back in the early 90s, the Thai restaurant Flavors&Spices was all the rave. It was one of the first few Thai restaurants in Manila. This fine dining restaurant dressed up the exotic preparations of Thailand. Too bad it closed shop. Perhaps because casual dining has become more popular.

One of my favorites at Flavors&Spices was their shrimp pancakes. The golden brown crumb-coated “cakes” were crispy on the outside and soft, fluffy on the inside, and served with a fresh lemony fish sauce dip! Of course, the real shrimp pancakes in Thailand had more exotic flavorings and a simpler breading, but I still love Flavors&Spices’ take on it nonetheless.

It was on Nigella Lawson’s cooking show, Forever Summer with Nigella that I first came across a prawn ‘cake’ recipe and thought of making some myself. It seemed very simple, but I thought of modifying it a bit.

Prawn Cakes
In a blender, mince together two stalks spring onions (white part only), one ½ inch size ginger, one clove garlic, and coriander stems (and leaves) amounting to one teaspoon.

Dump in around 350 to 400 grams raw shrimp (I used 250 grams raw prawns plus ¼ cup raw crabmeat that I got from ColdStorage. Use pure prawns if you cannot get good quality raw or cooked lump crab meat). Season with a dash of fish sauce, some cracked black pepper, and about 50 g of cornflour or sweet potato flour. Cornstarch will give it a fine texture and hold it well together. Sweet potato flour on the other hand will remain as distinct jelly-like blobs interspersed inside the prawn cakes. The particles swell and absorb flavor! So choose which binding agent you like. Pulse blender just until prawns are partially chopped. Do NOT turn into a fine paste! You want texture. You want to bite into prawn bits and realize it was made of real shrimp!

(do not turn mixture into a paste! pulse it and check that you still have chunks. you can always use a spoon or spatula to mix it if you think it is about to turn into a paste.)

Dredge tablespoons of the mixture with some cornstarch then deep-fry until golden.

Serve with lemon or lime wedges or your choice of dipping sauce.

(you can serve it with the sauce of your choice - chili sauce, catsup, or the dipping sauce below.)

(dipping sauce made of fish sauce, lemon juice, herbs and garlic)

Dipping sauce

Mix together:
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped Thai basil
1 tablespoon chopped mint
1 minced clove of garlic
1 tablespoon pureed onion
Chili to taste

You may adjust saltiness or sourness by adding more or less of fish sauce or lemon juice, respectively.