These are a superb way to start an elegant meal, the delicate flavour of crab is complemented well by the oriental addition of coriander, coconut and lime. For this recipe a food processor is ideally used, however, with a bit of work and a fork you can achieve the required results. The majority of the work involved in this dish can be done up to a day in advanced, with only a 5 minute reheat needed on the day. The following quantities serve 4.

Ingredients

• 1 Egg yolk
• 3tsp Fresh coriander leaves, chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1/2 Lime, zested and juiced
• 180g Frozen white crab meat
• 25g Creamed coconut
• 2 Egg whites

Method

1. Grease 4 ramekin dishes and place in a roasting tin.
2. Place the egg yolk, coriander, garlic, salt and pepper, lime juice, crab meat and coconut into a food processor, and blend to a paste.
3. Whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks.
4. Fold the egg whites into the crab paste, being careful not to knock too much air out of the egg whites. Divide the mixture equally between the ramekin dishes.
5. Fill the roasting tin to a depth of 1 cm with boiling water, and place in an oven at 170 degrees C for 25 minutes, or until set. Allow to cool and turn out. It is at this point that you can leave overnight in the fridge.
6. About 10 minutes before serving, fry the crab cakes gently in butter to warm through and brown slightly.
7. Serve the crab cakes garnished with the lime zest.