Chef K and I get Thai food a lot because Chef K is a curry fiend. He judges every Thai restaurant based on their yellow curry. I’ve gotten him to try new dishes, but he still favors curry dishes.
For this recipe, I decided to combine Chef K’s love of curry with my love of seafood and make these Thai shrimp cakes.
I minced the shrimp with a knife, instead of a blender or food processor because I personally like to have more control of the texture of my shrimp. Plus Chef K wouldn’t let me put raw shrimp in the blender. No surprise he didn’t want smoothies with a hint of shrimp, although I would’ve washed it really well!
Traditionally, shrimp cakes have green beans, but I decided to go with water chestnuts instead. I prefer the combinations of water chestnuts and shrimp. You can use either green beans or water chestnuts though, they both add a nice crunch to the shrimp cake.
Keep your shrimp in your cake, not the floor,
Your favorite alternative chefs, K & T
Thai Shrimp Cakes
Ingredients
Shrimp Cakes
- 8 oz shrimp peeled and deveined
- 2 tbsp red curry paste
- 2 tbsp coconut milk
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp rice flour
- 1 tbsp honey
- ½ tsp grated ginger
- 4 oz water chestnuts fine diced
- 2 tbsp Thai basil roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp green onion chopped
- 1 tbsp avocado oil divided
To Serve
- ¼ cup sweet chili sauce
- 1 lime
Instructions
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Blend the shrimp in a blender or food processor, mincing by hand works as well. The shrimp just needs to become a chunky paste.
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Mix shrimp paste with curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce, egg, rice flour, honey, and grated ginger until well combined in a small bowl.
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Lastly mix in the water chestnuts, basil, and green onion until well combined.
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Heat up a medium sized pan to medium low. Add 1 tsp of avocado oil at a time (add more as needed between batches). Spoon shrimp mixture into the pan in small dollops. Cook each patty for about 2 minutes on each side.
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Serve with wedges of limes and the sweet chili sauce.