Fish Paste Patties

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Easy and tasty fish patties made from store-bought fish paste (you can also make your own fish paste). Mixed with fresh herbs and pan fried. Serve with rice! Fish Paste Patties are a weeknight dinner staple ^_^

If you know fish paste, you love fish paste.

Especially the fish paste you can get fresh from Chinatown. There used to be several vendors in Honolulu's Chinatown that made fresh fish paste. It was so fresh you could watch them scraping meat off the fish bones right in front of you. There were multiple vendors to shop from in the 1990s.

Fast forward to 2024, and there is one vendor left. She's in Kekaulike Market and I hope that she never ever closes.

There are many things you can do with fish paste. You can make fish balls, you can stuff fish paste into tofu and steam it. Stuff fish paste into peppers and pan fry them. Or make fish paste patties...that's what we're doing in this post.

Beautiful and golden, fish paste patties are loved by all. They are a little crisp on the outside from being pan fried, and tender and bouncy on the inside. Packed with fresh herbs!

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need:

Fish paste - Store bought or homemade, either way works!
Neutral oil - Use any neutral oil like vegetable oil or avocado oil. We buy this avocado oil from Costco Hawaii (you can also get it online).
Green onions
Cilantro

We use store bought fresh fish paste from Chinatown - it comes seasoned a little, so I don't add any additional salt. If you're not sure if the fish paste you have is seasoned, then just pan fry a spoonful of the fish paste and taste it.

If you're making fresh fish paste at home (recipe coming soon), you'll want to season it with salt.

Instructions

Let's get cooking!

Place the fish paste in a large bowl.

Add the oil, chopped green onions, and chopped cilantro.

Mix until all the ingredients are evenly combined. I like to use chopsticks to do this step.

In a large pan over medium-high heat, add a little oil. Then use a spoon to scoop some of the fish paste (about 2 tablespoons).

Note: Because the fish paste mixture is pretty sticky, use a second spoon to help push the fish paste off the first spoon and onto the pan.

There is no right or wrong size for the patty. When I prepare this for my son, I like to make mini patties that he can pick up and eat on his own. For adults, I make larger patties.

The bigger the patty, the longer you need to cook, but it never takes more than a few minutes on each side.

Pan fry the patties until they are golden brown on one side (about 2-3 minutes). Then gently flip and pan fry the other side.

If you feel that the fish paste patties are browning too quickly, turn the heat down to medium heat.

Remove from the pan and place onto a plate. Eat hot and enjoy ^_^

I like this with a big bowl of rice and some good cooked greens.

Top Tip: Too Sticky To Flatten?

Once you scoop the fish paste and place it on the pan, you might find that it is more of a ball shape than a flat patty.

If you use a spatula or the back of a spoon to try flatten the patty, the fish paste will get stuck to the spatula or spoon.

So what's the easiest way to flatten it?

Pour a spoonful oil (the same type of oil you use for cooking) into a small shallow dish. I like to use the small dishes we use for soy sauce, here's a similar version.

Then dip the back of your spoon into the oil.

Use the back of the spoon to gently press down on the patty. This will do three great things:

Flatten the patty.
Keep the fish paste from sticking to your spoon.
Help oil the top side of the patty so that it browns nicely when you flip it over.

FAQ

How long do fish paste patties keep?

I store the cooked patties in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

How to reheat fish paste patties?

You can reheat in the microwave in 30 second increments.

Though the preferred method is to reheat in a pan over medium heat. Pan fry for about a minute on each side till the patties are fully warmed through.

Can you change the herbs?

Yes, within reason.

Green onions and cilantro are the most popular helps when it comes to fish paste. They also better "match" the flavor of many other Chinese recipes that we enjoy pairing this dish with.

You can use different herbs but stick with other Asian herbs like Chinese chives (garlic chives) or Thai basil. Herbs like rosemary or oregano do not make sense in this recipe.

Feel free to also add grated garlic or ginger to the fish paste mixture.

Is there any other way to cook these patties?

Yes. You can drop spoonfuls of the mixed fish paste into boiling water to cook. This would make them fish balls instead of fish patties, but it's delicious. It isbasically the same as these fish balls but with fresh herbs.