Tod Mun (Fish Cakes)

Tod Mun (Fried Fish Cake)-

Tod Mun is eaten as a snack or appetizer in Thailand. But as with many Thai appetizers, Tod Mun can be eaten with rice as a main course.

Ingredients:

1 egg
3/4 lb fish paste
1/4 lb green beans
3 kaffir lime leaves
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 tablespoon Basic Red Curry Paste

Direction:

Stack all the kaffir lime leaves and roll them tightly. Slice the roll of leaves into very thin strips. Slice green beans into cross-sectional pieces, 1/8 inch (1/4 cm.) thick.
Mix all the ingredients, except for the kaffir lime leaves, green beans and oil, in a bowl. Oil is for frying only. Stir until the mixture becomes a paste with smooth and shiny consistency again. For some fish pastes, it takes 3 minutes to get the smooth texture. For other fish pastes, you may want to use a mixer on low power because you'll be churning it for 1/2 hour by hand. There's no way I've found to make sure that the fish paste is good before working with it. Then, add kaffir lime leaves and green beans and stir again to mix them in.
In a flat bottom pan, heat up the oil on medium heat. Test the temperature by dropping a smaller piece of fish paste mixture in. When the oil is ready, the mixture should puff around the edge. When the oil is hot enough, drop a tablespoonful of fish paste in the pan. When the down side has cooked, use a spatula to loosen the tod mun, then flip the uncooked side down and push it down with the spatula to make it flat like a pancake. Flip again to get both sides brown. Drain or pat with paper towels to remove the oil. Serve hot with the sauce below.

Tod Mun Sauce (Nam Jim Tod Mun):

Ingredients:

1/2 quartered and thinly sliced cucumber
1/2 teaspoon ground fresh chili paste
1-2 tablespoons peanuts
5 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons vinegar

Direction:

Combine vinegar, sugar and red pepper sauce together in a small bowl. Heat the mixture in microwave until all ingredients mix well, approximately 1 min. Add the sliced cucumber and mix well. Toast peanuts in a pan. Then crush peanuts into small pieces. Top it on the sauce. Refrigerate the sauce until Tod Mun is ready.

Tips:
If you can't find kaffir lime leaves, omit them. Dry ones won't do the trick.
If the mixture is not well mixed, Tod Mun will not be chewy when cooked. It will tend to break easily. Inconsistent results can also come from the wrong type of fish or how fresh the fish is.
You can substitute Red Curry Paste for Basic Red Curry Paste.
As always with Thai food. Add a little more of red pepper sauce if you like it hot. Or add a little more of the sugar if you like it sweet. Tasting is the key.
In Thailand, many people avoid peanuts because of its link to cancer. So, in our household we substitute other nuts like almonds for peanuts.