I would choose fish cakes over meatballs at any occasion. They are light, delicate, and incredibly tender. Meat, fish, grain, and vegetable patties are insanely popular across German cuisine. It’s said that the American hamburger was invented by putting German meatballs on a slice of bread.
Ingredients
For the cucumber yogurt
- 1 European cucumber - finely shredded
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 12 ounces Greek yogurt - 340 g, regular (3.8%) or full-fat (10%)
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon mint leaves - chopped
For the fish cakes
- ⅓ cup whole milk - heated just below a light simmer
- 1 white bread roll - 3.5" x 4" roll, cut into small cubes
- 1 pound cod fillet - 450 grams, chopped into a rough paste, you can chop it by hand or use your food processor
- 1 teaspoon capers - finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon dill leaves - chopped
- ⅓ teaspoon ground coriander seeds
- ⅓ teaspoon ground white pepper
- ⅓ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 medium egg
- salt - to taste
- 1-2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
- clarified butter - for frying
Instructions
Prepare the cucumber yogurt
- Add the salt and sugar to the shredded cucumber and leave to marinate for 10 minutes.
- Wrap the cucumber shreds in a kitchen towel or cheesecloth and squeeze out any excess moisture. The cucumber shreds need to be very dry as they would otherwise water down the yogurt.
- In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt, cucumber, vinegar, olive oil, and mint leaves.
- Add more salt and/ or vinegar to taste.
- Cover the cucumber yogurt and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Prepare the fish cakes
- Pour the hot milk over the bread roll cubes and leave them to soak for at least 10 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the chopped cod, soaked bread roll cubes, capers, mustard, dill leaves, coriander seeds, white pepper, cumin, sugar, and egg.
- Mix briefly and season to taste with salt.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs to bind the batter. It should still be very soft but hold its shape when formed into a patty.
- Form the batter into individual fish cakes of your preferred size.
Cook the fish cakes
- Heat plenty of clarified butter over medium heat in a large nonstick saute pan. The fat needs to completely cover the pan surface and should be at least 1/4-inch high to not burn your fish cakes.
- Fit as many fish cakes as possible into your pan and fry until golden brown on the first side, about 3-4 minutes.
- Carefully turn them over and fry on the other side until cooked through and golden brown on both sides.
- Place the fried fish cakes on a paper towel to drain and proceed to fry fish cakes until all the batter is used up.
- Serve the fish cakes hot together with the cucumber yogurt for dipping.