Wheat Free Ginger-Turmeric Snapper Cakes with Carrot
These golden fish cakes are everything you want in a satisfying seafood dish — crispy on the outside, tender and fragrant within, and packed with bold, warming flavor from fresh ginger and ground turmeric. Finely chopped red snapper gives each cake real texture, while grated carrot adds a subtle sweetness and a little color that makes them genuinely beautiful on a plate. The binding comes from rice flour and egg rather than any wheat-based breadcrumb, so the whole recipe is naturally free of gluten-containing grains without any awkward substitutions or compromises. Squeezing the moisture out of the carrot and chilling the mixture before shaping are the two small steps that make the difference between cakes that hold together perfectly and ones that fall apart in the pan. Coconut oil brings a light richness to the fry and pairs surprisingly well with the cilantro and turmeric running through the mix. The cool ricotta dipping sauce with parsley and apple cider vinegar cuts right through the warmth of the spices and makes every bite feel complete. This is the kind of weeknight dinner that looks and tastes like you put in far more effort than you actually did.
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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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