Thai · Authentic-ish Thai

Tod Mun Pla (Fish Cakes)

Tod Mun Pla (Fish Cakes), plated as one serving.

218 kcal a serving, against 297 for the traditional version. That is 79 kcal off, or 27%, with 27.7g of protein. Serves 4. 35 minutes.

What the traditional version is

White fish (often snakehead or tilapia), pounded with red curry paste, a dash of fish sauce and sugar, then mixed with fine green beans and fresh kaffir lime leaves. Formed into thin cakes and deep-fried until puffed and golden. Served piping hot with a sweet-sour cucumber relish.

What changed, and what each change costs

Swap deep-frying (50g absorbed oil) for pan-frying in 12g oil

This is where all the numbers live. Deep-frying puffs the cakes and gives you a crunchy, craggy crust. Pan-frying in a measured spoon of oil gets them beautifully golden with a slight crust, but they won't balloon up or crisp quite the same. Still, the curry paste does most of the heavy lifting for flavour.

What it costs you. The trade: you lose the airy crunch and that street-food texture. You save a mouthful of oil, and the cakes are lighter both to eat and on the plate. No one's fooled, but you'll feel a bit less like you've eaten a bag of chips.

Use pollock instead of cod, and up the fish to 500g

Pollock holds together well and is a bit leaner than cod, plus it's kinder on your shopping bill. Adding more fish helps the cakes stay filling without adding extra fat, and bumps up the protein for the same portion size.

What it costs you. Pollock is milder than cod, so the curry paste stays in charge. The cakes are a touch drier, but still carry the aromatics. More fish, less regret.

Reduce the sugar in both the cake mixture and the relish

Most of the sweetness is doing a balancing act with the salty and sour. Cut the sugar by a third in both the mix and the relish and nobody will notice unless they're measuring it out next to you.

What it costs you. The sweetness is less obvious, the sharpness comes through more. If you want the classic syrupy dipping sauce, you'll feel short-changed.

Skip the peanuts in the relish

They're here for crunch, not protein, and they tip the scales for little return. Chuck in extra cucumber instead - it'll give you fresh snap for next to no calories.

What it costs you. You miss the nutty background but keep the main event. If you need a peanut hit, argue with me over a bag of dry-roast later.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

How it starts

  1. Cut your pollock into chunks and throw it into a food processor with the red curry paste, fish sauce, sugar and egg.
  2. Tip the paste into a bowl.
  3. With damp palms, form the paste into flat discs about 1cm thick.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Thai.

The numbers

Per servingTraditionalLightened
Calories297218
Protein22g27.7g
Fat18.4g7.6g
Saturated fat2.4g1g
Carbohydrate10g7.9g
Protein per 100 kcal7.4g12.7g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Thai prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. eggs, fish, peanuts, sulphites.

The method is in the book

There's no pretending: deep-frying gives you the classic crust, and pan-fried cakes don't quite strut the same way. The bounce is gentler and the outside is more golden than crisp. But you keep the hit of red curry, you dodge a chunk of oil, and if you shout "Tod Mun!" loud enough, no one at the table will complain. A market snack with less remorse, and no need for a litre of kitchen roll.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Thai, along with 48 more. Buy the paperback

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