Tsukeage (Satsuma Fried Fish Cakes)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 40 min
- Level
- Medium
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 10
About this dish
Fish cakes from Kagoshima go by tsukeage at home, even though much of Japan calls them satsuma-age.
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The white fish paste is softened with squeezed cotton tofu and egg and sweetened with sugar, local sake, and light soy sauce. Warm, they are a side dish or drinking snack, and once cooled they go into lunchboxes or simmered dishes.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Blanch the cotton tofu in boiling water for 1 minute, drain, and cool.
Wrap it in a clean cloth, squeeze out as much water as possible, and crumble finely.
- 2
Add salt to the chilled fish paste and grind in a mortar or food processor for 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth and distinctly sticky.
Keep the paste from warming during mixing.
- 3
Grind in the crumbled tofu, then add the egg, potato starch, local sake, light soy sauce, sugar, and oil for the paste.
Mix until fully cohesive with no separated liquid.
- 4
Lightly moisten or oil your hands and spatula.
Divide the paste into 12 portions, shape into rods, squares, or ovals about 1.5 cm thick, and place on a damp tray.
- 5
Heat the frying oil to 160°C and fry in batches for 5 to 7 minutes, turning once.
When evenly browned and the center of the thickest cake reaches at least 70°C, drain for 2 minutes and divide among four plates.
References checked
These references were consulted when this page was prepared or corrected. A source check does not mean the recipe was independently kitchen-tested.
- 일본 농림수산성 うちの郷土料理
鹿児島県学校栄養士協議会 · Checked: 2026-08-11
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