10 Minute Thai Green Tuna Fishcakes with Chilli and Lime Mayo

The humble tuna fishcake gets an exciting, spicy makeover here, infused with all the delicious flavours of a traditional Thai green curry. And these fishcakes are so quick to make – on your plate and ready to eat in just 10 short minutes!

Of all the many different types of delicious curry that the world has to offer, Thai green curry is hands down my absolute favourite. The winning combination of lemongrass, chilli, galangal, coriander and lime is a match made in heaven and tastes so fantastic when paired with meat, fish or vegetables alike!

Thai green curry is so ubiquitous with the exotic, balmy shores of Thailand that many people outside of the country understandably imagine it to have a long history, perhaps spreading back hundreds of years, being sold and enjoyed by locals on every dusty street corner for as long as anyone can remember. So it’s perhaps surprising to find out that Thai green curry has a much more recent history than that.

Chilis are such an integral part of any decent Thai green curry so it’s perhaps bizarre to discover that they didn’t even arrive in Thailand until the late 1600s. The first mention of a Thai green curry recipe was in a book dated from as late as 1926. However, it didn’t take long after that for this and other delicious Thai recipes to spread like wildfire in popularity around the world and to this day, the UK alone has around 2000 Thai owned restaurants! 

To me, it makes total sense to invite the fantastic flavours of Thailand into my home and incorporate them into many different type of recipe. Thai influenced recipes can certainly be very quick to make, meaning I’m a huge fan and happily include these flavours in this wonderfully quick 10 minute Thai green tuna fishcake with chilli and lime mayo recipe.

Fishcakes in general lend themselves perfectly to quick cooking, which is why I love making them! Check out my 10 Minute Salmon and Sweet Chilli Fishcakes recipe for further quick fishcake inspiration.

As with all of my quick recipes, getting the right type and quantity of ingredients is crucial to creating a super fast and super tasty end result. Let’s have a look at each important ingredient in turn and how they all come together to create the perfect 10 minute Thai green tuna fishcake with chilli and lime mayo…

TUNA – I think tinned tuna is a marvellous invention! It lends itself perfectly to so many quick recipes as doesn’t require any cooking as such and is a lean, inexpensive source of protein that has a brilliant shelf life in a kitchen cupboard or pantry. So it’s no surprise that I like to make use of tinned tuna in other recipes such as this 10 minute Mediterranean tuna pasta. 

When it comes to tuna, we must not neglect the all important “S word”….. sustainability. When cooking with any type of fish, it’s super important to try and source ethical, eco-friendly types. For tinned tuna, this means getting hold of the line caught yellowfin variety.

Tuna nets are traditionally used by some fishermen to try and bag as many tuna in the least labour-intensive way possible, however such nets are very good at damaging ocean ecosystems by catching all and sundry, plus can end up as discarded plastic waste drifting out at sea, so definitely steer clear of such controversially caught tuna in the supermarket. 

Tuna on the whole is super healthy, being abundant in nutrients including omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12. However, just a little word of caution – tuna can contain fairly high levels of mercury, so vulnerable groups of people like pregnant women may want to limit their intake of this particular fish.

THAI GREEN CURRY PASTE – So this is obviously the star flavour of this quick 10 minute tuna fishcake recipe! Now, many experienced cooks would scowl at the notion of using store brought curry paste rather than making your own from scratch, which is all well and good if you have bags of time however, this is a quick recipe blog so quick is the name of the game! Pre-made Thai green curry paste tastes perfectly good and is very widely available in many stores so grab yourself a jar or tub and crack on with your recipe without delay!

I recommended using 3 tablespoons of Thai green curry paste in this fishcake recipe which is a fairly liberal amount; you may decide to use a little less (or even more!) depending on the strength of the particular brand of paste you have and depending on your own personal tastebuds’ preference. 

SPRING ONIONS – the spring onion is a fantastically zesty and fresh ingredient that adds an extra element of punchy flavour to these 10 minute tuna fishcakes. Their flavour is relatively mild, meaning they won’t overpower the other ingredients in the recipe. Due to this pleasantly subtle flavour, they require very little cooking which makes them another perfect ingredient in a quick recipe such as this one.

WHITE BREAD – okay so this is a pretty boring and mundane ingredient, but it’s essential to use in the perfect quick tuna fish cake to add texture, shape and to happily bind all the other ingredients together. Bread may not be fancy, but it’s a household staple and is a super handy ingredient in many quick recipes.

EGG – speaking of binding things together, the egg is used in this recipe to do just that. Without it, the tuna fishcakes are prone to falling apart during the cooking process which results in a crumbly mess – still delicious of course, but not ideal! In this recipe I advise only using half a beaten egg as I found using it a whole one can make the texture of the mixture before cooking a bit too runny and the last thing we want are sloppy and dribbly fishcakes, yuck!

CORIANDER (CILANTRO) – a quick word on this flavourful herb used in many different Asian dishes. I’ve included it here to add to the flavour but also to really enhance the vibrant green colour of the fishcakes that go hand-in-hand with the Thai green curry flavour. I think it compliments all the other ingredients perfectly, however I know some people have a real aversion to coriander so if your guests will end up unhappy, feel free to omit this particular ingredient.

A final word now on the mayonnaise dip. These 10 minute Thai green tuna fishcakes are perfectly delicious to be eaten by themselves but I find they pair so well with this mouthwatering dip that’s so easy to make with creamy mayo, sharp and tangy lime juice and a sprinkling of peppery chilli powder.

Of course, many people are not spice fans so you could do without the chilli entirely although in this recipe, I recommend using mild chilli powder so hopefully nobody’s head will be blown off!

STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO MAKING THE PERFECT 10 MINUTE THAI GREEN TUNA FISHCAKES WITH CHILLI AND LIME MAYO

now lets have a peek at each of the stages of making your perfectly tasty tuna fishcakes, with helpful pictures and guidance. Note this recipe makes 8-10 fishcakes in total, an ideal amount for a light meal for two people;

STEP 1;

To get started, you’ll need to warm approx. 1 teaspoon of olive or vegetable oil in a large pan over medium high heat

STEP 2;

Whilst the pan warms up nicely, pop 1 medium slice of white bread, 3 (top and tailed) spring onions, a small bunch (approx 10g / 0.4 oz) coriander (cilantro), half a beaten egg and 3 tbsp of Thai green curry paste into a food processor or blender.

Blitz it all together for about 10-20 seconds. Exactly how long you need to do this for depends on the type of food processor you have, but what you want to end up with are fairly fine breadcrumbs and well chopped spring onions, all bound together nicely by the wet ingredients.

You may need to stop halfway though the blending process to scrape down the sides if things are flying out and splatting against the sides of the bowl a bit too much!

STEP 3;

Pop a 145g (5 oz) can of (drained) tuna chunks into a medium bowl. Add the mixture from the food processor into this bowl and stir briefly to combine it all.

It’s important to resist the temptation to pop the tuna into the food processor with everything else, because this causes the fishcake to end up with a very fine and rather mushy texture. Instead, we’re looking to have a smooth texture but with lovely little chunks of tuna spread throughout, which makes for the perfect fishcake.

STEP 4;

Spoon the finished mixture into the hot pan in about 1 tbsp amounts to create your fishcakes. Then squash each one down gently until around 1cm / 0.4 inch thick. You don’t want them too thin as they’ll fall apart and nor do you want them too thick, or they won’t cook quickly enough.

Fry each fishcake for 2-3 minutes one side then flip over and fry for a further 2 to 3 minutes on the other side until both sides are nice and golden brown in colour. Remove from the pan and pop them on your serving dish.

STEP 5;

Now time to make the mayo dip! In a small bowl, mix together 3 tbsp mayonnaise, the juice of half a lime and 1/2 tsp mild chilli powder. Serve this dip with your fishcakes and (if you fancy) a crisp, fresh salad. Yum!