Chilli and Lime Crab Cakes in Sweet Potato with Capsicum Salsa
Serves: 4
Time: 45 minutes
While this is a very simple meal, the crab cakes do require a bit of time. To make this a bit easier, have the sweet potato cooked the day before, then this one won’t take you very long to do at all. Today I have used Hawaiian sweet potato (they are an amazing purple colour inside) because they didn’t have the New Zealand version known as kumara. If you can’t get either of these then I would recommend you use Desiree potatoes instead because the golden sweet potatoes aren’t dry enough which makes them a little wet and harder to mold.
Leftovers
The recipe makes 8 so you should have enough for one or two leftover lunches, each with some salad.
What you'll need
3 small Hawaiian sweet potatoes or kumara (the New Zealand sweet potato with a purple skin) or alternately 6 medium Desiree potatoes
Kumara or Potato
Kumara isn't often in Woolworths so in the digital list I have done desiree potatoes. To change this yourself, you just need to click the swap option once you are in your cart and search for kumara but availability will depend on the individual store.
1 red chilli
1 lime
1/4 bunch of coriander
1 tub of blue swimmer crab meat 227g
1 egg
1/4 cup of plain gluten free flour
1/2 cup of gluten free breadcrumbs (Orgran brand are really good)
1 packet of salad mix
1 small cucumber
1 tub of pilpel capsicum salsa - alternately you could use a spicy tomato salsa
From the Pantry
1/4 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
olive oil
salt and pepper
Prep and Cook
Prep Cakes
Peel the sweet potato and chop up into chunks, all of a similar size. Pop in a medium pot and cover completely with cold water and a pinch of salt. Bring up to the boil and continue to cook until soft right through - approx 20 mins.
Drain once cooked and allow to cool.
Slice chilli in half and then remove the seeds, chop up into a nice fine dice (if you want some heat in your cakes then add the seeds in. I like mine with a bit of kick and my chilli tasted a touch weak so I also added a pinch of dried chilli flakes).
Zest or grate your lime skin and juice half the lime.
Wash and roughly chop the coriander and combine everything together with the crab meat.-
Crab Meat
Fresh crab meat can be found in a small round tub in the seafood section at Harris Farm and most Woolworths also stock it. Just check as you empty it out that there aren't any small bits of shell left in by mistake.
Mould Cakes
Smash the sweet potato up a bit with a wooden spoon so that it’s close to a mash consistency but don’t worry about lumps.
Add the crab mix and season really well. The crab is cooked so you can taste your mix now to see if it needs more salt and pepper or more chilli.
Mould into 8 even sized cakes.
Set up a crumbing station.
You will need -
1 dish with the flour and salt and pepper
1 dish with the egg well whisked
1 dish with the crumbs
Work in order to coat each cake: first in flour then in egg and then in crumbs.
Once you have finished crumbing, it’s easy to tidy the shape up a little if you want. Do this on a clean dry surface like the bench and use soft hands to mould into a circle with nice flat sides.
Prep Salad
Wash salad leaves.
Peel long strips of cucumber using a potato peeler.
Mix together and pile nice handfuls onto your plates, sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt flakes and some cracked pepper.
Medium Fry Crab Cakes
Fill a medium non stick frypan with enough oil to cover your fingernail.
Heat to a medium temperature; this will take a little while so to know when the oil is hot you can drop some crumbs in. When it sizzles, you can start to fry.
You need to be able to move the cakes around so don’t overcrowd the pan - 4 at a time is a good idea. The first four you set aside for lunch and the next four serve hot on the plate.
Gently place in the pan and cook each side for 2 minutes until lightly golden then turn onto the sides and roll around gradually, turning like a wheel.
Plate it Pretty
Use a dessert spoon to place a large dollop of the relish on your plate, then with the back of the spoon smear a crescent shape across the other half of each plate.
Place golden hot crab cakes on top of the relish and serve with a quarter wedge of lime each.
(I don’t always feel the need for salad dressing, so some freshly squeezed citrus works perfect, especially with a rich dish)
Enjoy!
Lunch tomorrow
Always take care when transporting anything seafood. Include an ice brick for your lunch box or put straight into a fridge is the best and then heat in a microwave. If you have access to an oven then once you have put them through the microwave, pop into the oven to get the crumbs crispy again.