Fish Cakes

Serves 4

The Ingredients:

• 500g Hebridean white crab meat
• 2 tbsp Desiccated coconut
• 50g Coconut cream
• 5cm Fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce
• 1 tbsp Oyster sauce
• 3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 1 Lime, juice (or enough to taste)
• 25–50g Fresh white breadcrumbs
• 750ml Vegetable oil, for deep frying

The Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, except for the breadcrumbs and oil. Grind in plenty of black pepper, then add half the breadcrumbs and mix well. Keep adding the breadcrumbs until the mixture is demonstrably firm enough to hold together. Mould the mixture into 8 cakes and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
2. Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer to 180°C (or fill a large, deep saucepan just over a third full with vegetable oil and heat it until it turns a cube of bread golden in about 30 seconds). Deep-fry the crab cakes in two batches for 2–3 minutes each until they are golden-brown, then blot them dry on kitchen paper. (At this point you could leave the cakes for an hour or so at room temperature and finish the cooking later.)
3. Heat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Put the crab cakes on a heavy baking sheet and cook for 10–15 minutes. Serve immediately.