The fish burgers of doom with a very delightful salad

Fish burgers with cabbage noodle salad and papaya

 About two weeks ago, I was in the mood to try something new. Considering we mostly eat chicken at our house, I thought I would try something with fish. Our fish repertoire is usually limited to salmon. I tried to find ready-made salmon burgers at the grocery store, but was a victim of the law of fishburgers. When you want to buy them, there are none. When you don't want to buy them, there they are. So I had to improvise, and bought some cod fillets and figured I could make my own. My plan was to pair the burgers with a tried and true salad that we have made a few times.

Making salad dressing in the blender with soy sauce

A tablespoon of peanut butter

Cabbage

We have never bought fresh papaya, so I thought I would give it a try and see if the kids would eat it. 

Cubed papaya with a squeeze of lime 

Shredded cabbage, carrots, and cooked asian noodles

Cucumbers on the side so they wouldn't be soggy in the leftovers. Dressing tends to do that to cucumbers.

Frying fishburgers. My liquid to fish ratio was off a bit, so they fell apart at first. Then I added some panko (japanese version of bread crumbs) and they held together better.

The fish paste

The end product, topped with a little dab of wasabi

The fishburgers had potential, but were a let-down. The consensus was that we will not use that recipe ever again, and therefore I will not share it. I will have to keep looking. My main objection was that they were overly salty. Since my husband made the fishburger paste, I am not quite sure what happened to make them such a flop. All I know is that since he did it, he bears the blame for the culinary catastrophe.

The papaya with lime was very good, in my opinion; the toddler spat it out and said "Blah" and the big girl refused to try. The toddler also refused to eat the salad. She does not really like noodles, and cries when they stick to her hands. She ended up eating something else. Big girl liked the salad but ultimately finished dinner with a sandwich.

The dressing is delicious, and the salad is crunchy and good. At least where adults are concerned.

Here is where the recipe for the salad comes from. Ideally, I would have just used the veggies and topped with chow mein noodles for crunch, which we unfortunately don't have in Sweden. I also like cashews instead of peanuts. This time, I added sunflower seeds for a little crunch. I would also cut down on the garlic. Four cloves is a lot - I think two would do.

Asian style salad dressing

4 large garlic cloves

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter

2 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger

1 1/4 teaspoons hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)*

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Combine all but the oil in a blender, mixing until smooth. Stream in the oil while mixing. Serve with a nice crunchy salad like tossed cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, red onions or scallions, roasted cashews, and chow mein noodles. Top with chicken or fish. Just not the fishburgers of doom.