Wild Salmon Cakes with Kaffir Lime and Ginger

Just when you thought you couldn't do anything with salmon bones...

Wild Salmon Cakes with Kaffir Lime and Ginger

I was talking up our favorite farmer's market fishmonger, Pat from Mission Fresh Fish, while Annie was talking to the ladies selling fish. She noticed they had bags of salmon bones for sale.  "What do you make with the salmon bones?"

"Oh, you make salmon cakes."

"Salmon cakes. What a great idea!  How do you do that with these bones?"

"Oh, just scrape the meat off the bones, add a little of this, add a little of that, form them into cakes and pan fry." (She actually recited a recipe but Annie was daydreaming about salmon cakes and wasn't paying full attention.)

"So, how much for these bones?"

"$1.00 a pound."

"That's a good deal!  I'll take a bag." Pause. "Make it two...wait." Pause. "Three? Nah, three'll probably be too much."  She had already bought a whole bunch of salmon collars.  "Just put it all together, and I'll pay for it when I come back." (Esther needed to go to the bathroom.)

When Annie came back, she asked how much everything came out to, including the salmon bones.  "Oh, Pat said to just give you the bones."

Score! Did I tell you how much we love our fishmonger?

Finding a Fresh Recipe

So I went looking for a good salmon cake recipe on Food Blog Search.  A lot of recipes call for using canned salmon but I found this one that called for fresh salmon and kaffir lime leaves.  Luckily, we have our own kaffir lime tree in our yard.

Kaffir Lime Leaves

Wild Salmon & Kaffir Cakes Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb wild salmon meat
1 egg white
3 tbsp cornstarch
3 kaffir leaves, thinly sliced
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 tbsp chopped green onion
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
1/2 tbsp wasabi paste*
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup of panko crumbs and extra for coating
2 tbs of canola or vegetable oil

*I had a tube of wasabi paste in the fridge...which expired in 2004.  Good grief!  I had to toss it out and do without the wasabi.

Method

1. Scrape the meat from the bones with a fork.  Chop the salmon meat coarsely.

Scraping Salmon Meat From the Bones

2. Finely chop the kaffir lime leaves, mince the ginger, and chop the parsley and green onions.

Chopped Green Onions, Minced Ginger, Chopped Kaffir Lime Leaves

 

3. Mix the salmon, panko, parsley, egg white, cornstarch, kaffir lime leaf, ginger and green onion together, until well combined.  Season with a few pinches of salt.

Wild Salmon, Panko, Parsley, Egg White, Cornstarch, Kaffir Lime, Ginger, Green Onion

 

4. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
5. Form the salmon mixture into patties and coat in panko crumbs. Fry cakes for a couple of minutes per side until they are golden brown.

Frying Salmon Cakes

6. Set salmon cakes aside to drain on paper towels.
7. Serve with ponzu dipping sauce.

Wild Salmon Cakes with Kaffir Lime and Ginger

 

I love the fresh taste of the kaffir lime in these salmon cakes, and wish I had used an extra leaf. I also think it could definitely have used that wasabi kick.  The "ponzu" sauce helped reinforce that nice lime flavor.  All in all, this salmon cake recipe is a keeper!

This recipe is entered in the Grow Your Own roundup, created by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes.

What would you do with the salmon bones?  Leave a comment and share your ideas!

Aloha, Nate.

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