Julie Biuso's barbecued crab cakes with Cambodian dressing

Serves 6 or more – makes around 36 small cakes

These are best served at the beach with the salt air teasing your nostrils, and wearing your oldest clothes, you can slurp and dribble to your heart’s content. They are simply the best crab cakes ever.

Crab Cakes Photo: Julie Biuso

Dressing

Ingredients

• 10 cloves garlic, peeled, finely chopped then lightly crushed
• 3 medium-hot red chillies, deseeded and very finely chopped
• Juice of 2 lemons, or more
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tsp sugar

Crab cakes

Ingredients

• 250g fresh crab meat, picked over, or use canned crab meat
• 250g white fish fillets, rinsed and chopped
• ¼ cup of the thick part of a can of coconut cream
• ¼ tsp salt
• oil for barbecuing

To serve

• 1-2 iceberg lettuces, torn apart, washed and spun dry
• 1-2 cups coriander sprigs
• 1-2 cups mint leaves
• Extra lemon wedges for serving

Method

Dressing

Mix dressing ingredients together, taste and adjust for desired sourness, saltiness and pungency. The dressing will keep in the fridge in a covered glass bowl or jar for 3-4 days.

Crab cakes

In the bowl of a food processor, quickly pulse together crab meat, fish, coconut cream and salt 30-40 times, or until amalgamated.

Roll the mixture into balls in the palms of the hands, making them about the size of walnuts in the shell.

Put them on a plate as they are done (crab cakes can be prepared a few hours ahead to this point; keep them covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated).

Cook the balls over a medium heat on an oiled barbecue hot plate, pressing them flat into small rounds with a fish slice. Cook briefly until lightly browned on both sides.

Arrange crab cakes, on a platter with lettuce, herbs and lemon wedges and serve dressing in a small bowl.

Let everyone make their own crab rolls by enclosing a crab cake in a lettuce leaf, spooning plenty of dressing over and adding a garnish of herbs.

Roll up and devour!