Crunchy Thai Prawn Cakes {Baked or Fried}

These Thai prawn cakes are absolutely divine. Deceptively easy, it involves throwing all ingredients into a food processor and then shaping them into cakes and then rolling in crispy crumbs. Best of all is that you can either deep fry them or bake them in the oven for a flavoursome but less calorific treat!

This recipe is from the cooking class at the Outrigger Koh Samui that I was lucky enough to stay at earlier this year. I love doing cooking classes when I travel overseas when I know I can get the ingredients to recreate dishes at home. Especially when the item tastes as good as they do at a restaurant which is the case here.

I was surprised at how easy these were to put together and I was doubly happy that they were delicious while baked (although the ones photographed were the deep fried ones). The baked version is paler but still crunchy and delicious. I think I possibly preferred them baked because they were slightly juicier inside too. Or maybe it was the calories saved that made the baked versions taste better ;)

I saved them for a busy day. One in which I had my cleaning lady over and then I had to rush out and see Nina at her gym. On chilly days we train indoors at her gym in Bondi Junction. She rents out her space to another trainer and sometimes I train at the same time as another person so there are four people in the space.

"Just letting you know...music man is coming," said to other trainer to Nina whose eyes widened.

"Who is music man?" I asked and Nina explained that he was a guy that strides into the gym, plugs his phone into the sound system without checking with anyone and blasts his dance music at full volume.

I could tell who it was before he even set foot in the door. And as expected he plugged in his phone, pumped the music and suddenly made the space feel really, really cramped. As for Nina and I, we spent the rest of the session trying not to laugh ourselves silly. Especially when he managed to increase the volume of a song with a remote controller while he was working out!

And I really wished I had one of these prawn cakes to shove in his mouth ;)

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever met a "music man" like that just doesn't care? Do you do cooking classes while overseas? What is your favourite cuisine to cook at home?

Crunchy Thai Prawn Cakes or Tod Mun Goong {Baked or Fried}

Adapted from a recipe at the Outrigger Koh Samui

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus 1 hour resting time

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Makes 15 large prawn cakes

• 500g/1.1lbs raw prawn meat, minced
• 200g/7ozs. minced chicken
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 cup green shallots, chopped
• 2 teaspoons finely minced fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons plain flour or cornflour/fine cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped coriander root
• 1.5 teaspoons fine salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 egg

• Oil for deep frying

• 50g/1.7ozs plain flour

• 3 eggs, beaten
• 100g/3.5ozs. panko breadcrumbs

Step 1 - In a large food processor add the prawns, chicken, garlic, shallots, ginger, sesame oil, flour, coriander root, salt, pepper and egg and process until you get a sticky paste. Place in the fridge for 1 hour.

Step 2 - Line a large tray with parchment. Wet your hands (I leave the tap running slightly to wet my hands between shaping each cake) and shape about a tablespoon of mixture into rounds-if the mixture is too wet toss it from open palm to open palm to make it firmer. Place on the lined tray.

Step 3 - Place the flour in a shallow plate, the egg in a bowl and the breadcrumbs on a shallow plate. Dip the cakes in the flour, then the egg and then the breadcrumbs and then place back on the tray. Repeat with all the cakes.

Step 4 - Heat the oil in a large pot until it reaches 180C/350F and then fry for 5-6 minutes turning over once. Or if you are baking them, heat the oven onto 180C/350F and drizzle a little oil on top of the cakes and bake for 10 minutes (there is no need to turn over). Serve with sweet chilli sauce.