Monday morning struck, I’m totes out of cooking inspiration. I grabbed two chicken breasts out of the freezer to defrost and vowed that, by the time 5.30pm rocked around, I’d have thought of something vaguely creative and appetising to feed the family. To be brutally honest, whilst I adore cooking, I don’t enjoy mid week cooking. Time is at the essence, we are all hangry and usually I’m cooking two meals to appease two foodie adults and one gorgeous, but bloody fussy eating, nine year old. I don’t have enough time during the week, frankly, to faff around preparing two meals. But I usually do. Aggh.
But this is a good news story: Inspiration did strike in the form of these Thai Chicken Cakes – and – talk about hit the jackpot! Despite my reservations, my boy scoffed this dinner! Bear in mind my expectations were low: I didn’t have any hopes of him eating them with salad (or the satay sauce – and he didn’t… But it was easy to sub these out for carrot sticks and sweetcorn. I can deal with that without blowing a valve. Anyway, dinner was totally delicious, it was a 30 minute dinner and it was EASY. So easy, in fact, we’ve had this dinner twice this week!
A few notes, before I dive in:
- The peanut satay sauce probably isn’t the most authentic recipe in the world, but it’s quick and delicious. I make this a lot – we like making satay burgers, chicken satay salad and this is is the peanut satay recipe I’ve used for years. It’s my go-to.
- As for the Thai Chicken Cakes – you can easily use chicken mince and simply add all other ingredients (finely chop the spring onions). I didn’t do this, as I didn’t have chicken mince, so I made my own by blitzing the chicken breasts.
- Another good use of this recipe is to make hamburger sized patties and use ’em as, ah, burger patties (to state the obvious!)
- To make my kumara wedges (these are AWESOME):
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.
- Place small kumara on a large plate, stab with a knife. Microwave for four minutes until slightly tender (poke ’em with your finger to test).
- Cut kumara into wedges. Place on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Brush with coconut oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden. Turn half way through cooking.
Ingredients
- Two chicken breasts (600-700g) or chicken mince (if you don't have a food processor)
- 2 spring onions
- 1 clove garlic, crushed (I used jar stuff)
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger (" ")
- 1 tablespoon red Thai paste (or just use ½ tlb if your kids are sensitive to spice)
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
- One handful of fresh mint (or coriander if your kids eat it!)
- 2 tablespoons oil for frying
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed (I use jar stuff)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (jar stuff again)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (or more depending on how hot you like it)
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, doesn't matter)
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/4 cup coconut cream
- 1/2 c water
- 1 teaspoon lime or lemon juice
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts in a food processor and blitz until you achieve mince consistency.
- Add all other ingredients (except the cooking oil) and blitz until everything is well mixed.
- Using damp hands, scoop up a handful of the mince and shape into medium sized patties (I managed to get 9). Place on a plate.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then add the patties over a medium heat for about 6-8 minutes, turning once.
- Serve hot, on your choice of salad. Drizzle with peanut satay sauce.
- I also served mine with kumara wedges (my kumara wedges recipe is in the notes above)
- In a small saucepan heat the oil. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft and golden.
- Add garlic, ginger, cumin and chilli and cook for 1 minute or until aromatic. Turn heat to low.
- Add all other ingredient and stir to combine.
- Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until sauce thickens.
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