Ingredients
Equipment
Method
For the Fish Cakes
- Place the basa, basil, curry paste, cilantro, fish sauce, demerara sugar, and lime juice in a large food processor. Blitz until smooth.454g (1lb) basa fillets, ¼ cup fresh Thai basil leaves, 2 tbsp red curry paste, 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp demerara sugar, 1 lime
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the cornstarch, egg yolk, and green beans. Mix well until a cohesive mixture forms.2 tbsp cornstarch, 1 large egg yolk, 100g (3.5oz) green beans
- Pour ½ an inch of oil into a large skillet and place it over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering form and add the fish cakes to the pan one by one. Use a tablespoon measure as a guide. ***neutral oil
- Don't crowd the pan. Only add about 6 cakes are at a time. Fry until golden on both sides. About 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a cooling rack suspended over a baking sheet to drain and set aside. ****
For the Soup
- Heat the oil in a large stockpot until shimmering. Add the shallots, garlic, and ginger. Stir in a generous pinch of salt and saute until softened. Stir in the shrimp paste and saute for about a minute more.1 tbsp neutral oil, 2 shallots, 3 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp fresh ginger, 1 tbsp shrimp paste
- Pour the water into the pot and add the lemongrass, shiitakes, chilis, and clam juice. Bring the mixture up to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let simmer for 30 minutes.6 cups water, 1 lemongrass stalk, 6-7 dried shiitake mushrooms, 2-6 Thai red chilies **, 1 (236 ml, 8 fl oz) bottle clam juice
- Once the 30 minutes have passed, strain the stock. Remove the shiitakes and discard the remaining solids Return the soup to the pot and stir in the fish sauce and honey. Taste and adjust the seasonings as desired. Finish the broth with the lime juice and thinly slice the shiitakes. Set them aside.3 tbsp fish sauce, 1½ tbsp honey, 1 lime
- When the soup is in the last 10 minutes of it simmering time, place the rice noodles in a large bowl and cover them with a kettle's worth of recently boiled water. Cover the bowl and leave the noodle to soak for 5-10 minutes.454g (1lb) rice noodles
- Once the noodles are tender, drain them and divide them across four large bowls. Cover the noodles with the broth and add 3-4 fish cakes to each bowl. Top the soup with the shiitake slices, Thai basil leaves, red onion, cilantro, and scallions. Serve immediately with limes wedges and cold beer.1 batch Thai Fish Cakes, ½ red onion, 2 scallions, fresh Thai basil leaves, fresh cilantro, lime wedges
Notes
* The fish cake recipe is adapted from Hot Thai Kitchen
** I used six chilis in my soup and it was quite spicy. Feel free to knock it back a bit to suit your heat tolerance.
*** It's best to form the fish cakes as you are frying them. This way they will keep their shape. It's easy to form the fish cakes when your hands are damp, so run them under cold water every so often while you're forming the cakes.
**** The fish cakes can be made up to three days in advance.