Spicy Tuna and Sweet Potato Fishcakes

During Lockdown 3.0 I’m in need of easy dinners that won’t take me all day to put together. Nowadays, like many parents in the UK, my days are now filled with homeschooling and trying to remember my times tables. Therefore, I need meals that I know everyone will enjoy and I won’t spend all my time in the kitchen preparing and cooking.

My son Ted and I are big fish fans but my husband isn’t so keen. Although, he doesn’t mind eating tuna in lots of different dishes. When I was deciding what we were going to have for dinner I stood at the kitchen cupboards and it suddenly hit me. I know that both Ted and Howard like tuna and we all like mild spice too. So I was onto a winner with this dinner.

It was fairly quick to put together and I could leave it in the fridge until we were ready to eat it. I prepared this at lunchtime and then it was ready in the evening to pop in the oven when we wanted dinner. Plus Howard and Ted ate the whole meal with no complaints.

Serves 4

Equipment

• Sharp knife
• Chopping board
• Vegetable peeler
• Colander
• Saucepan
• Frying pan
• Potato masher
• Baking tray

Ingredients

• Spring Onions x 6 – 8
• Tuna x 2 240g tins
• Carrots x 2
• Sweet potato x 800g
• Yellow pepper x 1
• Ground ginger x 1 tsp
• Garam masala x 1 tsp
• Mild chilli powder x 1 tsp
• Ground sweet cinnamon x 1 tsp
• Dried mixed herbs x 1 tsp
• Brown rice flour x 2 – 4 tbsps
• Ground flax seed or wholemeal bread crumbs x 60g maybe more (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

• Peel the potatoes and carrots and cut into 1 centimetre pieces.
• Place a saucepan on a high heat and add water to the base of the pan.
• Bring the water to the boil and put the carrots in the boiling water.
• Now put the potatoes in the colander and place this on top of the water.
• Next put the lid on top or inside the colander.
• Turn the heat down to medium (if not done already) and leave to cook and steam for about 15 – 20 minutes.
• Put a knife in the potatoes and if they fall off they are cooked.
• If they don’t fall off easily, put the lid back on and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Repeat this process until the potatoes fall off the knife easily.
• Meanwhile cut the spring onions into half centimetre pieces.
• Slice the top from the pepper and remove the core, seeds and green stalk.
• Now slice and dice the flesh of the pepper.
• Put the frying pan onto a medium heat and add oil to the base of the pan.
• When the pan is hot, add the spring onions and fry until translucent.
• Then add in the pepper and fry until it starts to soften.
• Now put the spring onions into the large mixing bowl.
• Add in the cooked potato.
• Drain the carrots through a colander.
• Put these into the bowl as well.
• Add in the ground ginger, garam masala, mild chilli powder, ground sweet cinnamon and dried mixed herbs.
• Sprinkle over the salt and pepper.
• Open the tuna and drain any excess water in the sink.
• Mash all the ingredients together.
• If the mixture is a bit wet, add in the flour to harden the mix.
• Once everything is mashed together and it’s at a consistency you like, split the mixture into four.
• With each piece, either make 1 large tuna fishcake or 2 smaller fishcakes.
• In the small bowl, add the ground flax seed or the breadcrumbs.
• Roll the fishcakes in the flax seeds or crumbs until the are covered.
• Put the fishcakes into the fridge for 1 – 2 hours if you have the time.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C or gas mark 4.
• When the oven is preheated, put the fishcakes onto a baking tray.
• Pour a little oil over the fishcakes and spread it as gently as possible over the fishcakes.
• Put the cakes into the oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
• When they are golden brown, remove from the oven.
• Finally, serve with beans or salad and then enjoy.

Spicy Tuna and Sweet Potato Fishcakes were a big hit in our house. We all enjoyed this meal and I had enough for leftovers the next day. Yummy for me! The best part is you could make these on the weekend and freeze for an even quicker meal during the week. All you do is make up the mixture, turn them into fishcakes and put them straight in to the freezer without putting them in the oven. Then all you need to do is defrost the fishcakes and cook them when you want to eat them. However you decide to eat these fishcakes, as always, please enjoy! Thank you xxx