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Tod Mun Pla (Thai Fish Cakes)

[heart_this] · Jul 8, 2009 · 36 Comments

Tod Mun Pla (Thai Fish Cakes)

I have been enjoying making my own fresh Thai curry pastes ever since I discovered how easy they were to make. Since they keep well in the freezer I almost always have some on hand. I recently made a new batch of red curry paste and I was looking for some new recipes to try using some of it in. One dish that I kept coming across was tod mun pla or Thai fish cakes that used red curry paste in the cake mixture. Some of the things that I liked about the tod mun pla recipes were that they included a green vegetable in the form of long beans and that they also used a lot of fresh herbs. The fish cakes promised to be really tasty all by themselves but I found that they were often served with a cucumber dipping sauce which also sounded good. Many of the recipes that I came across called for fish paste but I decided to just use some chopped up white fish which in this case was tilapia. The fish cakes were pretty easy to make. You pretty much just mix everything, form patties and fry them in oil until golden brown. You could deep fry the fish cake but I chose to shallow fry them as it would be easier. The tod mun pla were really tasty! I was right, they were packed with so much flavour that they hardly needed the dipping sauce but it provided some nice contrasting flavours and textures. The fish cakes had a nice crispy outside and the insides were nice and warm and soft and moist. I really liked the freshness that the herbs brought to the cakes and overall they were a really nice light meal.

Tod Mun Pla (Thai Fish Cakes)

Tod Mun Pla (Thai Fish Cakes)

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 30 minutes Servings: 4
ingredients
  • 1 pound white fish (cut into small pieces)
  • 1 egg (lightly beaten)
  • 1/2 cup long beans (thinly sliced)
  • 3 kaffir lime leaves (thinly sliced)
  • 1 birds eye chili (thinly sliced)
  • 1 green onion (thinly sliced)
  • 2 tablespoons cilantro (chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • peanut oil for frying
directions
  1. Mix everything for the cakes in a large bowl by hand until sticky.
  2. Form into small 3 inch diameter cakes.
  3. Fry in oil until golden brown on both sides.
Cucumber Dipping Sauce

Cucumber Dipping Sauce

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes Servings: 4
ingredients
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 cucumber (seeded and sliced)
  • 1 birds eye chili (thinly sliced)
  • 1 green onion (thinly sliced)
  • 1 tablespoon cilantro (chopped)
  • 1 tablespoon peanuts (roasted and finely chopped)
directions
  1. Heat the water, vinegar and sugar in a sauce pan until the sugar dissolves.
  2. Allow the vinegar mixture to cool.
  3. Mix everything.
Similar Recipes:
Moo Satay (Pork Satay) with Curried Peanut Sauce
Maryland Crab Cakes
Thai Curried Zucchini Fritters with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Appetizer, Curry, Food, Gluten-free, Low-carb, Main Course, Recipe, Seafood, Thai

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. GP says

    July 8, 2009 at 11:43 pm

    Great recipe! Thai food always uses good fresh ingredients!

    Reply
  2. teresa says

    July 8, 2009 at 11:59 pm

    This looks so good! I love all the flavors!

    Reply
  3. ♥peachkins♥ says

    July 9, 2009 at 1:42 am

    I love Thai Fish Cakes!! This photo is really tempting!Nice shot.

    Reply
  4. ttfn300 says

    July 9, 2009 at 1:44 am

    that is one amazing plate of colors! heavenly 🙂

    Reply
  5. Jenn says

    July 9, 2009 at 2:43 am

    This fish cakes look awesome!!!! I'm liking that cucumber sauce a lot!!!

    The presentation is really eye catching.

    Reply
  6. Ninette says

    July 9, 2009 at 3:09 am

    Good eats!

    Reply
  7. Ravenous Couple says

    July 9, 2009 at 3:10 am

    great festive dish! we love fish cakes and this dipping sauce looks great.

    Reply
  8. Anonymous says

    July 9, 2009 at 3:20 am

    Yes,Thai food is amazing..Your fishcakes looks mouthwatering..

    Reply
  9. Katerina says

    July 9, 2009 at 3:22 am

    How delicious and creative. Great pictures as always!

    Reply
  10. TaGa_Luto says

    July 9, 2009 at 4:03 am

    Wow! I love fish cakes/fish balls. I like the combination of the fish cakes w/ the cucumber sauce. Beautiful pics as usual.

    Reply
  11. Rosa's Yummy Yums says

    July 9, 2009 at 5:05 am

    A dish I really love! Thai food is awesome… Your dish looks really wonderful!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply
  12. Anncoo says

    July 9, 2009 at 5:14 am

    I like this one. The Thai red or green curry paste goes well with shrimps and other seafood too.

    Reply
  13. Kate says

    July 9, 2009 at 5:39 am

    Yum! Looks great! Time for a Thai dinner party!

    Reply
  14. Pam says

    July 9, 2009 at 5:47 am

    The fish cakes look delicious but that cucumber sauce is calling my name. Mmmmm.

    Reply
  15. Christelle says

    July 9, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    A great classic, always so tasty, ans so much better homemade, nice one 🙂

    Reply
  16. Zoe says

    July 9, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    Beautiful presentation! I love the flavors here.

    Reply
  17. Marta says

    July 9, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    What a nice display!
    These looks very flavourful and fresh, great job Kevin!!!

    Reply
  18. Lone Acorn says

    July 9, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    You have a blog full of great recipes and I wanted to let you know that I have an award waiting on my blog for you to collect. Cheers!

    Reply
  19. The Duo Dishes says

    July 9, 2009 at 4:57 pm

    Nice. We love any fish in a cake. This one has a lot of great flavors. Love the kaffir limes.

    Reply
  20. Kirby! says

    July 9, 2009 at 5:25 pm

    Those fish cakes look really pretty… and honestly, maybe I'm just crazy, but I would choose a good fish cake over a hamburger patty any day!! I wonder if you could make some sort of sandwich with this… maybe stick it in a mushu pancake or something to make a wrap??

    Reply
  21. ♥Rosie♥ says

    July 9, 2009 at 6:18 pm

    Great recipe Kevin, those Thai fishcakes sound packed full of great flavours.

    Reply
  22. Juliana says

    July 9, 2009 at 7:39 pm

    Wow, this is nice…never had Thai fish cake…I am sure that will really like it, since all the ingredients in it sounds very yummie.

    Reply
  23. Lo says

    July 9, 2009 at 8:03 pm

    You know, Kevin, we always have Thai curry paste around… but these are something I never think to make. Seems a shame… they sound positively delicious.

    Kudos for making your own curry paste!

    Reply
  24. Lo says

    July 9, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    Kevin – Would you recommend the Big Book of Thai curries?

    Reply
  25. [email protected] says

    July 9, 2009 at 8:14 pm

    That's a good recipe for me Kevin, because Tilapia is the only kind of fish I like!

    Yeah!

    Reply
  26. Paula says

    July 9, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    Oh, I LOVE fish cakes ordered from the Thai restaurant, so I know that I would devour these. I can't believe how easy your recipe sounds! I like that you pan fried them, too. I love that cucumber dipping sauce, also. YUM, Kevin, YUM!

    Reply
  27. Joanne says

    July 9, 2009 at 8:19 pm

    I really need to try making my own curry paste. These look good, kind of like a thai version of crab cakes!

    Reply
  28. Cookin' Canuck says

    July 9, 2009 at 9:41 pm

    Beautiful photo! These sounds so tasty and the cucumber sounds like the perfect way to cool off your mouth.

    Reply
  29. Kevin says

    July 9, 2009 at 9:44 pm

    Lo: Yes I would recommend The Big Book of Thai Curries. I have it and I really enjoy it. It has recipes for a bunch of Thai curry pastes at the front and then tons of recipes that use them later on.

    Reply
  30. Tiina says

    July 9, 2009 at 10:27 pm

    Delicious looking fish cakes!

    Greetings,
    Tiina

    Reply
  31. Bunny says

    July 10, 2009 at 12:39 am

    Oh my word Kevin your presentation is gorgeous!!

    Reply
  32. Pam says

    July 10, 2009 at 10:25 am

    I love thai food and have bookmarked fish cakes for years. I always thought they looked kind of difficult.

    I like the addition of the cucumbers in the dipping sauce!

    Reply
  33. Donna says

    July 16, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    Kevin, we made these yesterday along with your quinoa and asparagus salad and they were delicious – thanks for a great recipe.

    Reply
  34. nibs says

    September 23, 2009 at 4:31 am

    I tried this tonight, and even though I didn't have cilantro or kaffir lime leaves on hand, it was delicious!

    Reply
  35. Anonymous says

    June 23, 2014 at 8:19 am

    I tried these today and loved them. I always liked these in restaurants but never made them myself. I replaced the egg with a table spoon of ground flaxseed and shallow fried in a mixture of coconut oil and olive oil. This is a keeper thanks for posting.

    Reply
  36. kevin says

    June 25, 2014 at 10:45 am

    Jessica Woodbury: Glad you enjoyed it!

    Reply

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