← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 300 g boneless, skinless white fish (cod, hake or pollock), cut into chunks
• 100 g raw peeled prawns
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Sake
• 1 tsp ginger juice (squeezed from grated ginger)
• 1½ tsp Sugar
• 1 Eggs
• 1 tbsp potato starch or cornflour
• 20 g Carrot, cut into very fine 1 cm sticks
• 20 g Mangetout (snow peas), finely shredded (or edamame)
• 500 ml neutral oil, for deep-frying
• 2 tbsp soy sauce and grated ginger, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Pat the fish and prawns dry. Blitz them with the salt in a food processor for 1–2 min into a smooth, sticky paste.
2. Add the sake, ginger juice, sugar, egg and starch and process again until silky. Stir in the carrot and snow peas by hand.
3. With oiled hands, shape the paste into 10 flat ovals about 1 cm thick.
4. Heat 3 cm of oil in a deep pan to 160°C (320°F). Fry the fish cakes in batches for 4–5 min, turning, until puffed and golden brown. Turn the heat up for the last 30 seconds to crisp them.
5. Drain on a rack and serve hot or at room temperature with soy sauce and grated ginger.

Tips

• Use tamari for dipping to keep the plate gluten-free.
• Leftover satsuma-age is lovely simmered in oden or sliced into udon.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

RecipeTin Japan Japanese Cooking 101