Fish Cakes and a favourite recipe book

When I graduated from university I moved from a residential college, where all my meals were provided, to living on my own in a two bedroom apartment in a country town. It was a huge change. I'd never lived on my own before. I knew how to cook, but rarely had I cooked just for myself. And suddenly I had a decent income and a full-time job. And no friends (but that is a story for another time).

So, learning how to cook for one person took some work. In the midst of that challenge I found this treasure of a cook-book. Oh, I forgot to mention that after four years of (high fat) institutional cooking and almost no exercise, I needed to lose a bit of weight. This book is an absolute gem. 

It is particularly designed for older people who find the same challenges of cooking only themselves or themselves and one other, as well as cooking in a healthy manner. But it is relevant to anyone in that situation, no matter their age. It has basic ingredients that are easily available. I guess that is one reason why I'm still using it. Many Western cookbooks just don't make the cut in Japan because they are full of hard-to-get ingredients.

This book embodies simple, yet healthy cooking. This book holds my basic mince (US=ground beef) recipes - meatballs, spaghetti bolognaise, shepherd's pie. It introduced me to cooking with canned fish. It has basic casseroles and chicken dishes - all in small serves. Though my household has increased five-fold since those days I still use several of the recipes. Trick is, I need to triple them (or more) these days!

On Sunday I posted last week's menu. A couple of people asked about the recipe for Fish Cakes. So, here it is:

Fish Cakes

(This is for one person with a small appetite, for a family with three hungry boys I more-than-triple this and have no leftovers.)

1 small can (100g) fish, drained

1 medium potato, cooked and mashed (until recently I've never used instant mashed potato, but it works well and saves time if you have it on hand)

1 tablespoon chopped and cooked onion (a couple of minutes in the microwave is a fast way to cook it) 

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon skim milk powder

lots of breadcrumbs (I don't measure these, just add them until it holds everything together.)

pepper to taste

1. Mix all ingredients together and shape into four cakes.

2. Either fry in a fry pan or place on an oven tray and bake until brown.

Serve hot with lemon wedges or thousand island dressing and salad or vegetables.

A super yummy, healthy meal to which you can add oven baked potato wedges for a tasty, low fat meal. They also taste delicious the next day (if you manage to produce leftovers) on a sandwich or a roll with salad.