Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Set a steamer basket over water in a covered saucepan. Keep the water below the fish and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Place the fresh or thawed descaled skin-on fish fillets in the basket and sprinkle with half a teaspoon of sea salt.
- Steam, covered, for about four to eight minutes, until the fish is firm, opaque and flakes easily with a fork. Let it cool until no longer too hot to handle.
- Flake the cooked fish into a bowl with a fork, checking for bones. Keep the cooked skin; cut any skin that does not separate neatly into small pieces and include it with the fish.
- Mix in the two eggs and quarter cup of unsweetened shredded coconut. Add extra salt and black pepper to taste. Keep the fish flaked rather than blending to a smooth paste.
- Roll golf-ball-sized portions and flatten to about three-quarters of an inch thick, keeping the patties similar in size.
- Melt natural non-hydrogenated coconut oil over medium heat in a medium cast-iron skillet. Use about one cup, adjusted to reach a half-inch melted depth in your pan. Have a paper-towel-lined plate and broad spatula ready.
- Gently lower a patty into the oil; it should bubble gently and brown over about three to four minutes. Add patties without crowding or overlapping. Cook three to four minutes per side, until browned and the egg mixture is set through the center.
- Drain cooked patties on the lined plate and continue with the remaining mixture in batches. Remove seeds from the juice of one lemon and squeeze or drizzle the juice over the cooked patties before serving.
Notes
Fish: Twelve to sixteen ounces wild-caught cod or walleye, measured before steaming. Use fresh or thawed descaled skin-on fillets; keep cooked skin in the patties, cutting it small if needed.
Steam: Four to eight minutes over boiling water until firm, opaque and easily flaked. Keep the water below the basket. Cool until no longer too hot to handle.
Binder: Two eggs and one quarter cup unsweetened shredded coconut without additives. Do not replace the shreds with the same measure of coconut flour.
Shape: Golf-ball-sized portions flattened to three-quarters of an inch. Four servings does not mean exactly four patties.
Oil: About one cup of natural non-hydrogenated coconut oil, adjusted to a half-inch melted depth in your skillet. Pan width affects the amount. Oil in the pan is not all absorbed by the patties.
Timing: Twenty minutes is a preparation planning allowance. Steam and cool before mixing. Fry three to four minutes per side, six to eight minutes per skillet batch. The eight-minute field is Frying Per Batch, not total frying for an unknown number of batches. A fixed full-recipe cooking or total time is not supplied.
Finish: Drain on a paper-towel-lined plate and finish the cooked patties with the seed-free juice of one lemon. Mayonnaise, if served, is a separate dip and not the binder.
Storage: Refrigerate promptly in a shallow covered container and use within three to four days. Reheat in an oven-safe dish until hot throughout.
GAPS: Full GAPS after fish, whole eggs, shredded coconut, fat and lemon are introduced. No dairy, grain or almond flour in the base. Fried patties are not an early Intro fish-in-stock preparation.
Scaling: At 2× use twenty-four to thirty-two ounces fish, one teaspoon initial salt, four eggs, half a cup shredded coconut and two lemons. About two cups oil is a batch-planning allowance, not an instruction to make a deeper pool in the same skillet; keep the half-inch depth and work in batches.