Robin Ellis

Another recipe based on a Nigel Slater recipe. I have always loved fishcakes – must be the comfort food factor kicking in – but these days of course the fact they usually contain 50 per cent potato causes trouble for me as a diabetic.This recipe solves the problem by leaving the potato out! The dill and the grain mustard make the fishcakes special and they sometimes serve as a tasty starter. If you keep them small and cook them quickly, they’ll be crisp and brown on the outside and still succulent inside.

Yogurt sauce

2 x 125 ml pots low-fat yogurt
1 tsp grain mustard
good pinch of chopped dill (from the main bunch) salt

The Fishcakes

400 g/1 lb salmon fillet – skinless and checked for bones

white of an egg
1 tbsp chickpea flour – of course, plain flour works as well

1 tsp grain mustard

juice of 1⁄2 lemon
small bunch of dill – chopped fine salt and pepper (parsley will substitute though dill goes well with the salmon)

2 tbsp olive oil

• Mix all the yogurt sauce ingredients and refrigerate until you are ready to eat.
• Cut up the salmon fillets in roughly equal-size pieces.
• Put these in a mixer and pulse three or four times.
• Avoid working them too much and producing slush at the end.
• You could just cut them up in small pieces if this suits better.
• Put the salmon in a bowl.
• Turn in the egg white and the flour, and then the mustard, lemon juice, and the dill.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• It’s a good idea to taste the mix for seasoning at this point – the dill and the salt should come through.
• Refrigerate if not using immediately.
• Heat the oil to hot in a frying pan and using a dessertspoon scoop out a dollop and make a ball.
• Put this carefully in the pan and flatten it gently.
• Cook on a medium-high flame, crisping and browning the outside while making sure the interior cooks through–about a minute each side, taking care not to burn them.
• Serve with the mustardy yogurt dipping sauce on the side.