Surimi-age (Fried Fish Cakes)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 45 min
- Level
- Medium
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 11
About this dish
Surimi-age is a Toyama home dish that turns fresh fish paste into crisp, bite-size fried cakes.
Read more
In this version, sardines are cleaned, pounded, and ground with ginger juice before grated mountain yam, beaten egg, and miso are worked in to make a cohesive, airy paste. Chopped onion, carrot, burdock, and shiso provide texture, while a small amount of potato starch helps each spoonful hold together in the oil. The exterior fries thin and crisp as the center stays fluffy. Toyama households and izakaya serve the cakes as a side dish or sake snack, and they can also become ingredients in oden or hot pot.
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Step
Remove the sardine heads, innards, bones, and skin.
Pound the flesh lightly with a knife, then grind it in a mortar with juice squeezed from the grated ginger until nearly smooth.
- 2Prep
Grate the mountain yam finely and beat the egg.
Add both to the sardine paste with the miso, then grind and mix until the paste becomes sticky and glossy.
- 3Prep
Chop the onion and carrot coarsely.
Julienne the burdock into 1 cm lengths, halve the shiso leaves lengthwise, and slice them into fine strips.
- 4Prep
Add the onion, carrot, burdock, and shiso to the fish paste and mix evenly.
Sprinkle in the potato starch and fold from the bottom so the vegetables do not clump.
- 5Heat
Heat the frying oil to 170°C in a deep pot.
Shape bite-size ovals with two spoons, lower them into the oil, turn once, and fry for 4 to 5 minutes until deep golden and cooked through. Drain well.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- Sardine is ground finely with fresh ginger juice.
- Finish cue
- Shape bite-size ovals with two spoons, lower them into the oil, turn once, and fry for 4 to 5 minutes until deep golden and cooked through.
- Avoid this
- Oil that is too cool makes the cakes greasy, while excessive heat burns the outside first.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official food safety guidance.
This recipe
45min, 11 ingredients
Category median
30min, 8 ingredients
Based on 162 recipes
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