Chicken Free Ginger-Turmeric Snapper Cakes with Carrot
These golden pan-fried cakes are built around fresh red snapper, and the combination of bright ginger, earthy turmeric, and sweet carrot makes every bite feel vibrant and a little unexpected. Coconut oil gives the exterior a beautifully crisp, deep-golden crust while keeping the inside tender and flaky — the kind of texture you only get when the fish is hand-chopped rather than blitzed in a food processor. Squeezing the moisture out of the grated carrot is a small step that makes a big difference, ensuring the cakes hold together perfectly in the pan without falling apart. The cool ricotta dipping sauce with parsley and a splash of apple cider vinegar is the ideal counterpoint to all that warm spice — creamy, tangy, and ready in under a minute. Rice flour keeps everything light and gluten-optional in spirit, binding the mixture without weighing it down. This is the kind of recipe that feels impressive enough for guests but is genuinely straightforward to pull off on a weeknight.
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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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