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Crab cakes with chilli jam and crème fraiche

James Martin from James Martin Digs Deep
James Martin's spicy crab cakes are perfectly matched with sweet hot chilli jam and cooling crème fraiche

Crab cakes with chilli jam and crème fraiche

Method

1. To make the crab cakes: boil the potatoes in a pan of lightly salted water for about 15 minutes, or until tender. Drain well, and then return to the pan. Mash with a fork or potato masher until smooth. Leave to cool completely.

2. Check the crabmeat carefully for any flecks of shell and discard. Mix the crabmeat with the mashed potatoes, egg yolk, lime juice, curry power and coriander; season with salt and pepper. Shape into neat round patties using a little flour. If the mixture sticks to your hands, simply dip your hands in cold water. Chill for 10-15 minutes.

3. To make the chilli jam: place the chopped chillies, water, sugar and vinegar into a pan and bring to the boil. Cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring. Remove from the heat. The jam will thicken as it cools.

4. Heat the oil in a large shallow frying pan until hot. Carefully slide in the crab cakes using a fish slice. Cook for about 3 minutes until crisp and golden brown on the underside, then carefully turn and cook the other side. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. If you have a medium-sized frying pan, you may find it best to fry the crab cakes in 2 batches.

5. To serve: place the crab cakes on serving plates and sprinkle with coriander. Serve the chilli jam and crème fraiche separately.

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Serves: makes 10-12

Prep: 30 min, plus 10-15 mins chilling
Cook: 30 min

Ingredients

For the crab cakes

300g Potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
450g white crabmeat
1 egg yolk
1/2 lime, juice only
1 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp Coriander, chopped
plain flour, for shaping
3 tbsp corn oil