Eye for a Recipe

This is a fast and tasty way to get more fish into your diet. Canned salmon is mixed with bread crumbs, cilantro, green onions, spices and eggs and then formed into patties. Quickly fry the patties and serve with a refreshing raiti sauce. If you don’t like cilantro, use parsley instead.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

The ingredients in this recipe that may contain additives and preservatives are the yogurt and tandoori paste. Look for a Balkan-style yogurt with no artificial ingredients. It is difficult to find spice pastes that are additive-free, so I usually make mine from scratch. A recipe for tandoori paste is below. Also be sure to use fresh lime juice, as concentrates are bitter and usually contain sodium benzoate.

Ingredients:

½ cup (125 mL) plain yogurt

1/3 cup (75 mL) chopped fresh cilantro

2 green onions, thinly sliced

¼ English cucumber, coarsely grated and squeezed dry

2 tbsp (30 mL) lime juice

1 cup (250 mL) fresh bread crumbs

1 tbsp (15 mL) grated fresh ginger

1 tbsp (15 mL) prepared tandoori paste

2 eggs

¼ tsp (1 mL) cayenne pepper

2 cans (213 g each) wild sockeye salmon, drained and flaked

1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil

Tandoori paste

¼ tsp each of cayenne, salt, coriander, ginger, turmeric, cumin and paprika

2 tbsp plain yogurt

½ tbsp lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together.

Preparation:

In small bowl, combine yogurt, 1 tbsp of the cilantro, half of the green onions, the cucumber and lime juice. Set raita dressing aside.

In separate bowl, combine bread crumbs, ginger, tandoori paste, remaining cilantro and green onions, eggs, cayenne pepper and salmon, mixing well. Shape into eight 1/2-inch (1 cm) thick patties.

In large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat; cook salmon cakes until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side. Serve with raita dressing. Serves 4.

From the February 2012 issue of Canadian Living