Cravings: Thai Crab Cakes

After talking about making Crab Cakes for the "Back to the Basics: Steakhouse Edition" I decided I has to make a batch of these as well! A special shout out to my friend Ken for suggesting I try it out! Then I found this one for the Peanut Cilantro Sauce.

Thai Crab Cakes

Ingredients

6 medium raw shrimp, shelled, washed and deveined

1 teaspoon nam pla (fish sauce)

1 pound fresh lump crab meat, picked over for cartilage

1 egg

¼ cup chopped scallion

¼ cup chopped cilantro

1 fresh chili, preferably Thai, minced

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

Salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 to 3 tablespoons bread crumbs, preferably fresh

About 1/2 cup all-purpose flour for dredging

Peanut or vegetable oil as needed

Lime wedges for serving

Preparation

Purée shrimp in a food processor (smaller is better) until you have a smooth paste, or chop and mash by hand. Add fish sauce. In a bowl, mix the shrimp purée, crab meat, egg, scallion, cilantro, chili, ginger and salt and pepper; add just enough bread crumbs to stiffen mixture a bit. Refrigerate mixture until you are ready to cook; it will be easier to shape into cakes if you refrigerate it for 30 minutes or more.

Season flour with salt and pepper. Film bottom of a large skillet with oil and place over medium-high heat. Shape crab meat mixture into cakes 1 inch thick and as wide as you want. Dredge each in flour, and cook, adjusting heat as necessary and turning once (very gently), until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes a side. Serve with lime wedges.

Cilantro make a huge difference

These were many times better than the last ones I made. I highly suggest these as an alternative to "regular" crab cakes. the addition of the shrimp is a huge improvement and flavor is very good. I HUGE THANK YOU to Ken for the suggestion as I will never go back now.

Until the next meal...