Wet your hands and shape about ¼ cup of the prawn or fish mixture into a ball. Flatten it slightly to make a circle about ¾ in (2 cm) thick. Put on a plate and continue until all the mixture is used up.
Slice the tomatoes. Rake the cucumber lengthways with a fork to score the skin, then slice thinly. Arrange tomato and cucumber in alternating slices around the edge of a serving dish.
Heat oil in a wok. When it is hot, add a few prawn or fish cakes at a time and deep fry until cooked, turning so they turn golden brown all over, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper towel and transfer to the serving dish.
Serves: 6-8 Makes: about 8 large pieces or 24 bite-sized pieces
Preparation time: 25 min Cooking time: 15 min
sweet corn fritters tod man khao phod
I thought sweet corn fritters were as American as apple pie until I came across an excellent Thai version in the southern city of Nakkorn Si Thammarat. Fresh sweet corn kernels are mixed in a batter with Thai curry paste, soy sauce, and fish sauce — and what a superb difference those seasonings make. If you can't get fresh sweet corn, you could use defrosted sweet corn kernels, but avoid the canned version as the texture is disappointingly limp. These tasty fritters are ideal as a snack or appetizer, or you could just as easily serve them as part of a main meal.
4 tablespoons plain flour
4 tablespoons rice flour
1½-2 tablespoon red curry paste or curry powder
1 tablespoon fish sauce
tablespoon light soy sauce
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3 cups (400 g) raw sweet corn kernels (cut from 3-4 corn cobs) or defrosted sweet corn kernels
vegetable oil for shallow-frying
Put both lots of flour, curry paste, fish sauce, soy sauce, and salt in a bowl and stir in the eggs, mixing well. Add the sweet corn kernels and stir; if the batter seems to dry, add I to 2 tablespoons water.
Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan by about ¼ in (0.5 cm). Drop in about 2 heaped tablespoons of the corn mixture, pressing lightly with a spatula to flatten it into a round cake (or make tiny fritters from about 2 teaspoons of batter if serving as finger food). Fry the fritters over medium heat, a few at a time, until golden brown on both sides and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towel and serve warm or at room temperature. These sweet corn fritters go very well with Vinegared Cucumber Salad (page 182).
Serves: 4 Preparation time: 7 min Cooking time: 5 min
happy pancakes with pork & prawns bahn khoai
This is one of several types of savory pancake sold by street vendors and market stalls "in Vietnam. In line with the Vietnamese passion for fresh flavors, the pancakes are eaten with lettuce and herbs, with Salted Soybean & Peanut Dip drizzled over (but they're just as good with the ubiquitous Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dip). The pancakes are usually prepared from scratch for each person in Vietnam, but I find it's quicker to cook all the pork and prawn filling in advance when you're serving pancakes for several people.
½ lb (250 g) lean pork, shredded
1 lb (500 g) small to medium fresh prawns, peeled and deveined
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (preferably Shao Hsing), optional
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 spring onions, green and white portions separated, minced
2 cups (320 g) rice flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon caster sugar
¾ teaspoon turmeric powder
2¼ cups (560 ml) water
3 large eggs
3 cups (250 g) bean sprouts, washed and drained
1 red or brown onion, halved and sliced very thinly across
½ cup (125 ml) vegetable oil
Accompaniments
2 whole butter lettuce, leaves washed and dried
1 cup firmly packed mint leaves
1 cup firmly packed coriander leaves
2 small star fruit or 1 small cucumber, thinly sliced across
Salted Soybean, Pork & Peanut Sauce (page 178) or Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dip (page 175)
Put the pork and prawns in a bowl and add the fish sauce, garlic, rice wine, pepper, and the white portion of spring onions. Mix well with your fingers and set aside.
Combine the rice flour, salt, sugar, and turmeric in a bowl and gradually stir in the water to make a very thin batter. Put the eggs in a bowl and beat lightly with a fork. Set near the stove.
Prepare the Accompaniments. Arrange the lettuce leaves, mint, coriander, and star fruit on a serving platter. Divide the dip between four to eight small bowls.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok. When hot, add the pork and prawn mixture and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate and divide into eight portions. Put the green portion of spring onions, bean sprouts, and onion in a bowl and gently toss with your fingers, then add to the portions of pork and prawn.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan, preferably cast-iron or non-stick, swirling it around to completely grease the base and sides. Tip out the excess oil and save it for greasing the pan next time. Re-heat the pan and when very hot, stir the batter, then measure ⅓ cup and pour it quickly into the frying pan, tilting the pan so that it spreads over the bottom; don't worry if there are a few small gaps. Scatter over one portion of the pork, prawn, and bean sprout mixture. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.
Uncover the pan and drizzle over about 2 tablespoons of the beaten egg, filling in any gaps that might have been left in the pancake. Cover and cook over medium heat for 1 minute. Remove the lid and cook uncovered for about 1 minute, to make sure the bottom is crispy, then fold the pancake in half and transfer to a serving plate (see Note). Repeat, adding oil to the pan and stirring the batter each time until you have made eight pancakes. Serve with the Accompaniments and dip. The pancakes are normally broken into pieces and tucked in a lettuce leaf with the herbs, a slice or two of star fruit or cucumber and a dollop of sauce, then rolled up and eaten.
Note: Ideally, each pancake should be served immediately and eaten while still hot and crisp. A frying pan set on tabletop burner would be ideal, saving you from running back to the kitchen repeatedly; alternatively, you could use two frying pans and cook two pancakes at the same time to speed things up.
Serves: 4-8 Makes: about 8 pieces using a 8½-in (22-cm) frying pan
Preparation time: 20 min Cooking time: 40 min
thai tuna carpaccio
Wafer-thin slices of beef marinated in lime juice and seasonings can be found in northern Thailand but in this modern variation, fresh tuna replaces the beef and is marinated not only with lime juice but olive oil, like the well-known Italian beef carpaccio. All you need for this recipe is spanking fresh tuna, lime juice, olive oil, freshly ground