Beef Free Ginger-Turmeric Snapper Cakes with Carrot
These golden fish cakes are everything you want in a satisfying, flavor-forward meal — bright with fresh ginger, earthy from ground turmeric, and packed with tender bites of hand-chopped red snapper and sweet grated carrot. Skipping beef here is effortless because the snapper brings its own richness, and the combination of warm spices and fresh cilantro makes every bite feel genuinely exciting. The trick of squeezing moisture from the carrot and chilling the mixture before shaping means the cakes hold together beautifully in the pan, developing a deep golden crust in coconut oil without falling apart. Rice flour keeps things light and gives the exterior just the right amount of crispness. The cool ricotta dipping sauce — brightened with apple cider vinegar and fresh parsley — is the perfect counterpoint to all that warmth, and it comes together in about two minutes while the cakes chill. This is the kind of recipe that looks impressive on a platter but is genuinely approachable for a weeknight dinner.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the cakes
- 1 lb fresh red snapper fillets, skin removed, pin bones removed
- 1 cup finely grated carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp rice flour
- ¾ tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, for frying
For the dipping sauce
- ½ cup fresh ricotta
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
For serving
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley sprigs (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Make the dipping sauce: stir together the ricotta, parsley, apple cider vinegar, and 1/4 tsp salt in a small bowl until smooth. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the cakes.
- 2
Pat the snapper fillets completely dry with paper towels, then finely chop them by hand into pieces no larger than 1/4 inch — do not use a food processor, as the fish should have some texture, not become a paste. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
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