The Recipe

Serves: 4 people
Preparation: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes

Quinoa is extremely versatile in cooking due to its texture and neutral flavour. You can create wonderful salads, risottos, porridges and even desserts that are vegan, gluten-free and high in protein.

Despite my fascination with quinoa, the growing popularity of it around the globe and the impact it has on the farmers in South America... I am actually not a big eater of the wonderful protein-enriched, neutral-tasting, trendy superfood.
However, quinoa is so amazingly versatile and can be used in sweet and savoury dishes that are gluten-free and high in protein.

With cooking, I try to challenge myself and also you, as my readers every day. To take classics and make them your own, make them current, seasonal and relevant to the region you live in. To use ingredients that you are unfamiliar with and to overcome your hesitation about trying something new.

In this recipe, the quinoa acts as a binder and gives texture to one of my favourite Thai street food snacks - fish cakes. Paired with a mint and mango dipping sauce on a peppery bed of crisp watercress. It's a little bit different from a quinoa kale salad.... try it out!

I think you are going to like it.

THE INGREDIENTS

Mango mint sauce
6 tbsp lime juice
100g mango flesh
6-8 mint leaves, finely sliced
2-3 chilli padi, finely sliced (to reduce the heat you can use regular red chillies)
5 tsp fish sauce
1 heaped tsp brown sugar

Fishcakes
250g white fish (seabass/tilapia/snapper)
60g dry quinoa
1 lime, zested
3g/ 3-4 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
45g/3 tbsp red curry paste
1tsp sesame oil
12g/5tsp fish sauce
6g/2tsp brown sugar
1 egg yolk
70g French green beans
Vegetable oil for frying

THE METHOD

Blend mango, browns sugar, fish sauce and lime juice together
Mix through sliced chilli and mint leaves
Add extra lime or sugar to taste.
Put quinoa in a saucepan and cover with salted water. Allow to boil until the germ ring has separated from the seed and it is soft in texture. Strain and rinse with cold water. Set aside and allow to drain.
Place all ingredients except green beans in a food processor and blend until combined.
Cut the tops and tails off the green beans and slice them into 1 cm pieces
In a medium bowl, mix fish mixture and cut green beans
Wet hands and mould small flat disks of the fish mixture (about 30g)
Heat 1 cm oil in a non-stick pan and fry the fishcakes, make sure you do not overcrowd the pan.
Cook on each side for about 1 minute or until golden
Place on a cooling tray or paper towels to drain out any excess oil
Serve on a bed of watercress with mango mint sauce