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Copycat Sponge Bob Cheapskate Thai Crabby Patties

Copycat Sponge Bob Cheapskate Thai Crabby Patties came to me because I was at a patient's house and they had the Sponge Bob Movie on in the background. They kept talking about the fictitious secret formula for crabby patties while I was helping my patient. Antonio Banderas plays a pirate who stole the secret formula and I left thinking I must have the secret formula. It doesn't actually exist so I had to make my own. My sub-conscience must have absorbed it in the background lol.

Thai crab cakes are of course actually a real thing so I started combing the internet for all the recipes I could for Thai crab cakes. One of my favorite food blogs for Thai recipes is The Spruce Eats. I used a lot of the same ingredients they did in their recipe but I changed a few. I wanted to make it healthier and cheaper and my own of course too.

Thai Crabby Patties

Things I changed

Making it healthier

I made my own panko out of whole wheat bread rather than using the simple carbs in bread crumbs or traditional panko. If you don't know what panko is it's basically bread crumbs made with bread with the crust removed. You can make your own whole grain version by baking or toasting whole grain bread. Once the bread is dried out completely put it in a blender or food processor to make crumbs. If you need a gluten-free version just do the same with brown rice, whole grain rice crackers. I used olive oil to make it monounsaturated fats, you could use canola oil which is also healthy and more traditional Thai style. I recommend our lower calorie, lower sodium Thai sweet chili sauce for dipping them in.

Healthier Thai Sweet Chili Sauce-Reduced Calories and Salt

Lastly, I used sambal rather than the garlic salt to reduce the sodium slightly. It's one of my favorite Thai ingredients and I use it all the time.

Sambal, Chili Garlic Sauce

Making it cheaper

I love all kinds of seafood and always have. When I was a kid my parents told me I would need to make good money to keep up with my tastes after I cried when they wouldn't get me lobster at Red Lobster once. I love it soo much. Crab and lobster are my favorites but they obviously aren't cheap. Fortunately, imitation crab and lobster are made with healthy white fish and taste almost the same. One, 8-ounce package of them will do the trick for this recipe and save you a few bucks. Making your own whole wheat panko by just toasting whole wheat bread, tearing off the crusts and blending it will also save you a few bucks. Skipping the mayo and oyster sauce don't take too much away from the taste and make it healthier. Below is my recipe.

Ingredients:

Thai Crabby Patty Ingredients

8 oz. package of imitation crab or lobster meat
½ cup chopped onions
3-4 kafir lime leaves shredded
2 Thai chili peppers chopped or snipped into little pieces with scissors
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. low sodium fish sauce if you can find it
1 tbsp. oyster sauce or you can skip it if you want to watch the sugar and sodium
3-4 eggs or just the whites
2 cups whole grain bread crumbs or whole grain panko
1 tsp. sambal garlic pepper sauce
1 cup olive or canola oil
Lower Sodium and Calorie Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

Instructions:

1. Put the imitation crabmeat, onions, lime leaf slivers, peppers, lime juice, fish sauce, oyster sauce, 1 egg, together in a blender or food processor to combine ingredients. We burnt up one blender adding in the breadcrumbs to the blender so if you use a blender adding the bread crumbs in a bowl next and mixing with your hands works fine. If the cakes are not firm enough just add more bread crumbs little by little until you can make solid cakes with your hands.
  
  Thai Crabby Patty Mix

2. Form the patties into larger discs if you want to make sandwiches like in Sponge Bob. My wife likes smaller ones so she made them about 1 inch in diameter. We made both sizes and made a face so if it's for a party you might want to do that for fun.

3. Next, put the eggs or egg whites in one large bowl and bread crumbs in another to coat the cakes. First, dip them in the egg and then in the crumbs so the crumbs stick. You can really go as heavy or light as you want with the crumbs, we like fewer crumbs to result in fewer carb. calories. Place them on a plate or napkin before frying.

Dipping Thai Crabby Patties in Eggs and Crumbs

4. Heat the oil in a wok or pan, deep enough to cover the patties. Once hot enough to sizzle, place the patties in the oil and cook until slightly browned on each side.