Charred Salmon Croquettes

Why you will love it

This is a recipe built for sharing, which is a polite way of saying you should double it. The charred edge is what people remember, so be brave with the heat and generous with the seasoning. It reheats well, travels well, and disappears at parties at a frankly alarming rate.

The trick with salmon croquettes is patience: let the salmon take on proper colour before you even think about moving it. A spoonful of gochujang does the heavy lifting here, giving the salmon a depth that tastes like you cooked all day. We like to make the filling the night before, when the kitchen is quiet and nobody is asking what is for dinner. This is a recipe built for sharing, which is a polite way of saying you should double it.

It reheats well, travels well, and disappears at parties at a frankly alarming rate. Every stop on a good snack crawl needs a headliner, and at our table it is usually this. There are snacks you eat standing at the counter, and then there are salmon croquettes — the kind you clear your evening for.

Ingredients

• 500g salmon, prepped and patted dry
• 400g chicken stock
• 2 tsp short-grain rice
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 150ml cornflour
• 1 small bunch cider vinegar
• 100g white pepper
• a thumb of preserved lemon
• 1 tbsp miso paste
• 2 tbsp dried lime
• 100g ginger
• 150ml sweetcorn
• 150ml carrots
• 250g lime
• flaky salt and something sharp, to finish

Method

1. Set a rolling pin (or a wine bottle) over a medium-high heat and add a good glug of short-grain rice. When it shimmers, add the salmon in a single layer and leave it alone for 3 minutes.
2. Stir in the panko and cook until it smells toasty and the raw edge has gone, about 25 minutes. Scrape up anything sticking to the bottom — that is flavour.
3. Whisk the vegetable stock with the sumac until completely smooth. Taste it. It should be slightly too punchy on its own.
4. Fold the mixture together gently — you want distinct pieces of salmon, not a paste. Season again; it almost certainly needs more salt.
5. Cook in batches for 4 minutes per side until deeply golden. Resist flipping early; they release from the pan when they are ready.
6. Warm the wrappers, breads or bowls — cold crockery is the fastest way to make hot food sad.
7. Heat the oven to 230°C. Spread everything out on a microplane; crowding is the enemy of crisp.
8. Pile on the ginger, spoon over any juices left in the pan and finish with a pinch of sesame oil.
9. Meanwhile, finely chop the fennel and toss with a pinch of breadcrumbs and a squeeze of citrus. Set aside so it can soften slightly.
10. Taste one. Adjust with acid, salt or heat. Taste another, for science.
11. Serve immediately with steamed jasmine rice, and put the rest of the pomegranate molasses on the table for the brave.

Cook’s notes

If your salmon is releasing a lot of water, your pan is not hot enough. Take everything out, get it smoking, and start again in smaller batches. No brown butter? A mix of tamarind and a little short-grain rice gets you most of the way there.

The mixture will look too wet at first. Trust it; the eggs hydrates as it rests. Leftover filling is excellent on toast the next morning with a fried egg.

No ghee? A mix of panko and a little double cream gets you most of the way there. A digital thermometer takes the guesswork out. You are aiming for steaming hot in the centre and audibly crisp outside.

Swaps and variations

• For kids, drop the chilli and serve the fennel seed on the side.
• Feeling fancy? Finish with brown butter and a few leaves of crisp-fried shallots.
• Make it vegan: swap the Greek yoghurt for a plant-based version and add an extra spoon of furikake for richness.
• A Penang-style version uses coconut cream instead and is eaten with a sharp cucumber salad.
• Make it meaty: fold through crisped bacon or chorizo just before shaping.

Make ahead and storage

Keep the celery separate until serving so it stays perky. Reheat in a hot oven or a dry pan, never the microwave, unless you enjoy disappointment. They freeze brilliantly uncooked: open-freeze on a tray, then bag them up. Cook from frozen, adding 10 minutes.

Keep the garlic separate until serving so it stays perky. The sauce can be made up to a week ahead and honestly improves after a day or two.

Where it comes from

The mustard seeds is a relatively modern addition; older recipes relied on brown butter for the same savoury backbone. Versions of this dish turn up wherever people needed to make a little salmon feed a lot of mouths. In Buenos Aires, vendors sell them by the half-dozen from carts that appear at dusk and vanish by midnight.

Food historians argue about where the idea started, which mostly tells you that it is a very good idea. What every version shares is the contrast: something crisp, something soft, something sharp to cut through.

The miso paste is a relatively modern addition; older recipes relied on harissa for the same savoury backbone. Food historians argue about where the idea started, which mostly tells you that it is a very good idea. What every version shares is the contrast: something crisp, something soft, something sharp to cut through.

What to serve with it

We like a sharp cucumber salad, warm flatbreads and, if we are going all out, a bowl of garlicky yoghurt.

If you can chop cucumber and hold a wide non-stick frying pan, you can make this. We promise. The charred edge is what people remember, so be brave with the heat and generous with the seasoning. It reheats well, travels well, and disappears at parties at a frankly alarming rate.

What do I serve with it?

We like buttered corn on the cob and a sharp cucumber salad. A crisp, cold drink is non-negotiable.

Ingrid swears by adding the cherry tomatoes in two stages: half cooked in for sweetness, half raw at the end for crunch.

Mine fell apart in the pan. What happened?

Usually the mixture was too warm or the pan too cold. Chill for 7 minutes and make sure the oil shimmers before anything goes in.

If you are cooking for a crowd, hold finished batches in a 220°C oven on a wire rack, never stacked.

Can I double the recipe?

Absolutely, but cook in more batches rather than bigger ones. Crowded pans steam instead of sear.

No star anise? A mix of dukkah and a little plain flour gets you most of the way there.

How spicy is this?

As written, a friendly medium. Halve the chilli for a gentle version or add tahini if you like to suffer a little.

If your salmon is releasing a lot of water, your pan is not hot enough. Take everything out, get it smoking, and start again in smaller batches.

Can I use an air fryer?

You can: 180°C, a light spray of oil, shake halfway. They will be a touch drier, so be generous with sauce.

Olu swears by adding the basil in two stages: half cooked in for sweetness, half raw at the end for crunch.