The Best Toddler Salmon Cakes
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: if you want your toddler or young child to eat fish, you need to cook it right. Punishing the fish = punishing your child(ren), and yet, nearly all of the recipes out there for fish nuggets, sticks, fingers, cakes, et al. involve a double cooking seafood–either by cooking through the first first before forming it into the aforementioned, or by using canned seafood–and the results are predictably, well, sawdust-esque. You didn’t like that when you were a child; your child(ren) especially won’t now.
Here, then, is a simple solution: a salmon equivalent to chicken fingers, but cooked to an appropriate level of doneness so that your child will just barely be able to tell the difference–and not care at all. What it lacks in novelty it more than makes up for in actually tasting like something your child wants to eat: crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, with just a few sparks coming by way of the sauces and condiments in its filling. It’s just right.
Ingredients
Instructions
Prep
- Cut the salmon into roughly one inch pieces. Place cut salmon into a blender and pulse two or three times, or until the fish is chopped/ground up.
- In a bowl, place enough breadcrumbs to just cover the bottom, a glug of teriyaki sauce, a small spoonful each of mayo and mustard, and the chopped-up salmon; dice up the scallion scatter over the top of the mixture. Blend salmon mixture until integrated. Refrigerate for 10-20 minutes, if you can.
- When ready to cook, cover the bottom of a flat container or pie pan with breadcrumbs. Grab a small chunk of the salmon mixture and place in the palm of one of your hand; use the other to roll the salmon back and forth until it is rounded. Roll the salmon piece through the breadcrumbs to coat. Repeat for remainder of the salmon mixture.
Cook
- Heat a big glug of oil in a larger pan to Medium High. When shimmering, add salmon pieces and cook for two minutes.
- Flip salmon pieces and cook for an additional minute. Remove from heat and blot with a paper towel to remove excess oil.
Serve
These just require a sauce or two–say, ketchup or your child’s preferred creamy condiment (i.e., ranch, tartar).
Adapt
Feel free to use a whitefish like cod instead of salmon; no changes to the ingredients or proportions are required. If feeling frisky, you can mince a vegetable–say, red pepper or zucchini–and include in the fish mixture. For the salmon cakes the adults will eating, add a bit of Old Bay or cayenne to the mix.
