Crab cakes with sweet chilli & ginger dipping sauce

• French beans↗75g g

  finely sliced

• fresh white crabmeat↗200g g
• red chilli↗1

  deseeded and finely chopped

• garlic clove↗1

  crushed

• spring onions↗4

  trimmed and finely chopped

• freshly grated ginger1 tbsp tbsp
• grated zest 1 lime
• chopped coriander1 tbsp tbsp
• fresh white breadcrumbs↗75g g
• mayonnaise↗1 tbsp tbsp
• egg↗1

  beaten

• sunflower oil↗

  for frying

• garlic cloves↗5

  roughly chopped

• red chillies↗2

  roughly chopped

• piece ginger↗6cm cm

  peeled and roughly chopped

• dried kaffir lime leaves2
• stalk lemongrass1

  trimmed and roughly chopped

• chopped coriander2 tbsp
• caster sugar↗175g
• rice wine vinegar↗50ml
• fish sauce↗1 tbsp

  or lime juice

• soy sauce↗1 tbsp

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   To make the dipping sauce, blend the garlic, chillies, ginger, lime leaves, lemongrass and coriander in a food processor until very finely chopped. Tip the sugar into a small saucepan, add 3 tbsp water and heat gently to dissolve. Continue to cook for another min or so until the syrup starts to thicken slightly.

2. 2

   Add the chilli and ginger mixture, and continue to cook for a further 2-3 mins. Then stir in the rice vinegar, fish sauce and soy sauce. Remove from the heat and leave to cool to room temperature.

3. 3

   Cook the beans in a small pan of boiling salted water for 1-2 mins until tender. Drain and refresh under cold running water, then leave to dry on kitchen paper. Mix the crab with the cooked beans and all the remaining ingredients, apart from the sunflower oil. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and shape into 8 small patties.

4. 4

   Heat 1-2 tbsp sunflower oil in a frying pan and cook 4 crab cakes at a time until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the pan and keep warm while you cook the remainder. Serve with the sweet chilli dipping sauce.