Nov. 11, 2001 – A savory basic batter is a great vehicle for incorporating favorite seafood and making tasty cakes.
Virgin Islands cuisine is full of recipes for seafood cakes. There are saltfish cakes, conch fritters and salmon balls. The beauty of these dishes is that a tiny bit of expensive seafood can be mixed with inexpensive ingredients like onion, bell pepper, mayonnaise, egg and breadcrumbs to make an appetizer or a center-of-the-plate meal. Another benefit is that these recipes are quick cooking, going from batter to belly in under 30 minutes.
Crab is an excellent seafood for making into cakes. Use canned crab — or, for less cost (and lower amounts of cholesterol), opt for imitation crab. Also called surimi, this crab look-alike is most often made from Alaskan pollock, a fish with a lean, firm flesh that has a delicate, slightly sweet flavor. The recipe pictured here is made with surimi — and it tastes as good as it looks.
Caribbean Crab Cakes
1 cup fresh lump crabmeat or imitation crab
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons jerk seasoning
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 egg
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
Oil, for sautéing
Combine all ingredients except oil in a large mixing bowl. Spoon up portions of the mixture and hand-mold into cakes. Heat oil in a skillet. Add crab cakes. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, then flip over and cook 2 to 3 minutes more until cakes are lightly browned. Serve with fresh lime slices.
Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 330 calories, 16 gms fat (44 percent fat calories), 84 mg cholesterol (52 mg when surimi is used) and 883 mg sodium.
