I am not kind of person who will eat the very same food over and over again and will get happy beyond reason. Unless that food is the fish cakes (balık köftesi) prepared by the chef of my most favorite fish restaurant in Istanbul. Sometimes as I am waiting for the shuttle from Kadıköy to depart for the Harem bus station where I will get on a bus to Sapanca I am popping in the place, and they know my order already - a plate of köfte made of Black Sea salmon.
The chef prepares those fish cakes just like he would prepare your typical Turkish meatballs: only that instead of minced meat he will use finely diced fillet of the Black Sea salmon. Every time I am eating this köfte I am praying for the health and long life of the usta so that he would continue turning his beautiful fish cakes for many years to come (inşallah!).
And I know what I am talking about because I have eaten the fish cakes elsewhere. They call them fish croquette or fish köfte as well, but it is pure insult to the name. I understand the desire of some fish restaurants to utilize the fish that has been around for a tad too long: if you boil that fish, flake it, combine with a few other ingredients and then deep-fry it improves the kitchen economy but surely wards off the customers like myself.
On the contrary, my usta uses fresh Black Sea salmon, a very flavorful oily fish that resembles trout rather than Norwegian deep-orange colored salmon. I know that the restaurant receives their fish daily, and it just does not sit around for too long to need a second life in the form of fish cakes. So the fish canteen makes a huge tray of fish köfte to cater to its lunch crowd: for people here köfte is the ultimate comfort food, even if it’s made of fish.
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For a long time I have been wanting to recreate those marvelous fish cakes at my own kitchen, but the restaurant is too close to my house. And then things at home never taste as they do in the restaurant. Sometimes it is the matter of special equipment home cooks may lack: the said fish cakes, for example, are cooked on the charcoal grill at the restaurant that imparts unmistakable smoked flavor to them. Also, at times when you cook yourself psychologically it is harder to put all the butter and salt the dish needs; but they have no problem with that at the restaurant as they care about the flavor of the food more than they do about your diet.
So I continued thinking about these fish cakes and in my head I cooked them more than I care to remember. Many times I was getting back to the thought: does the diced fish has the same capacity to hold together as the minced meat and do proportions on the recipe change when compared to the meatballs?
Maybe this is why these fish cakes turned out excellent the very first time I eventually cooked them at home. After every bite I was pausing to wish health to all those chefs who inspire me and to myself so I am able put that inspiration into the food I make.
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Most Genius Fish Cakes in The World (Balık Köftesi)
Chances are that you have never eaten a fish cake close to this: moist, tender and full of flavor. We are talking about fish cakes styled as Turkish meatballs and coming out as inevitable deliciousness.
Prep Time: 15 Min
Cook Time: 10 Min
Total Time: 25 Min
Serves: 4 (16 small cakes)
Ingredients
- 400 g white flash fish such as haddock, cod, trout etc (originally used Black Sea salmon which is fairly similar to trout)
- 1/2 large onion (100 g), finely grated (sorry!)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 30 g bread crumbs
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 4 tbsp parsley (10 g), finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 3/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp salt and more to taste
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil for frying
Directions
- Prepare fish cakes: Start with examining the fillet. You want to make sure all the bones are removed: just feel each piece with your hands and pull any remaining bones using a pair of tweezers. Now finely chop the fish fillet: it’s convenient to first slice it into the stripes moving your knife parallel to the spine, then dice the stripes and do a few more knife runs across the diced fish to make it really fine. Transfer the finely diced fish into a medium-size mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and set aside for a few minutes for the bread crumbs to absorb some moisture and for the whole mixture to thicken a bit. Now taste for salt - it will be a shame if you get the whole batch wrong: pinch a tiny bit, throw on a small well pre-heat pan and fry until colored. Taste and add more salt, if needed. Rinse your hands with cold water and start forming the fish cakes: pinch a large walnut-sized bit of a dough, roll into a ball, then into a little torpedo, finally flatten it and place on a plate (container, if you are not cooking right away; they keep 1-2 days in the fridge). Don’t press the cakes too hard - they are rather gentle and this is exactly why they will be so moist when cooked. You will get about 16 fish cakes. Cover the plate with a cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 min so that the fish cakes firm up.
- Cook fish cakes: Heat up a large heavy-bottom skillet, pour in the sunflower oil and fry the fish cakes on the medium heat about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until nicely colored. Serve immediately on the lettuce salad.
Lettuce Salad
Prep Time: 5 Min
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 1/2 large onion super finely sliced
- 8-10 large lettuce leaves finely sliced
- 6 French breakfast radish finely sliced
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tbsp red pepper flakes
- sea salt to taste
Directions
- In a small mixing bowl combine onion and salt and squeeze really well: this will soften the flavor of the onion and remove the crunch we don’t really need in this salad. Stir in the lettuce and radish, season with the extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle red pepper flakes on top. Serve immediately.
Olga, these fishcakes look just sinfully good, can’t wait to try them!