Almost any coffee shop that you go into in Portugal will have a selection of sweet and savoury treats with one of the most popular of thee being Portuguese Cod Cakes or Pastéis De Bacalhau.
These are basically small fish cakes that you can eat in a couple of bites and can be served as a quick snack either hot or cold or you could always put a couple on a plate and serve with a fresh salad for a light lunch option.
You can of course use other fish or unsalted cod to make them but for an authentic Portuguese flavour then you really have to use the salted cod fish. It may take time to prepare but you will be happy you put in the effort when you taste the results.
Ideally each little cake should be formed using two spoons to make the distinctive shape but if you are not confident with this then you can always make them into small patties instead – the taste will not differ after all!
Ingredients
- 450g of salted cod
- 2 large peeled potatoes
- 25g of fresh flat leaf parsley
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1 onion
- 65g of plain flour
- olive oil for frying
- salt and pepper to taste
Method
Firstly prepare the salted cod. This cod comes in flat pieces and needs to be soaked in cold fresh water. Drain and replace the water every two hours for eight hours and then finally rinse and cut into pieces about 6cm square.
Now put the cod and the cut potatoes into a pan of water and bring it to the boil. When boiling then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes or until the cod flakes easily.
Put the cooked cod and potatoes into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper and add the chopped parsley. Mash up the mixture and then stir in the chopped onion and the eggs. This does not need to be smooth and you should be able to see flakes of the cod within the mixture.
Take a dessert spoon and scoop some of the mixture onto the spoon and use a second spoon to shape it – you can instead make simply patties if you prefer at this point.
Heat a pan with some olive oil and cook the cod cakes until crispy on the outside and golden in colour.
Serve and enjoy!