This fish is small, affordable, inexpensive, but very tasty! Today we will talk about capelin, which belongs to the smelt and is available on the counter of any fish store. Many do not even suspect what delicious dishes of capelin can be prepared: fry, stew, bake it, use it as raw material for homemade sprats ... Here are just a few of the whole list of all kinds of recipes.
Fried capelin
Of course, the easiest way to fry this fish in sunflower oil in a pan. For this dish from capelin we need 1 kilogram fresh frozen, salt and frying oil.
We defrost the fish in a natural way (no boiling water and microwave ovens with ovens - let it lie on the table in the kitchen for a while). Then we remove the heads with the insides, and my carcasses. And even before cooking, it is advisable to dry them on a kitchen towel to remove excess moisture.
We take a large cast-iron frying pan and warm it well with sunflower oil. We pour it in an amount of about a finger thick.
We throw fish into boiling oil so that one practically does not touch one another, and fry (previously salt) on medium heat - first on one side and then on the other side until golden brown.
That’s all wisdom. A delicious dish of capelin is ready! You can, by the way, cut onions into rings and fry it until golden brown in the same oil. And after - put it on top of a fish placed on a voluminous dish. And you can decorate with fresh herbs and serve.
Breaded
The first option, as you already understood, is the simplest. Now try to complicate the task with you and prepare capelin in batter. To do this, take a kilogram of freshly frozen fish, one and a half glasses of sifted wheat flour, 2 eggs, a glass of beer or mineral water, half a glass of very cold water, salt chips. And for the deep fat, in which we will fry, vegetable oil.
Cooking secrets
We list a few:
- Fried capelin is prepared simply. We clear the fish from the insides and wash it under running water. If anyone wants, then the fins can be cut, but we leave the tails.
- Stir the broken raw eggs with ice water, add salt and beat. Pour beer or mineral water with gas, mix. Add the flour and again thoroughly knead the batter, adjusting its consistency by adding flour or water. At this stage, you can add spices - if desired.
- Heat the sunflower oil in a large saucepan almost to a boil. You can use the bowl of the multicooker and deep fryer.
- Holding the prepared fish by the tail, dip it into the batter, then carefully place it in a deep-frying pan.
- Such capelin is fried instantly. We get already a golden fish slotted spoon.
- Lay a paper towel on the plate to remove excess oil. And put the finished fish there.
- To serve this dish of capelin on the table, you can use mayonnaise sauces, “diluting” them with garlic, fresh chopped herbs. Eat right away, hot. Before serving, you can sprinkle with fresh herbs - it will not hurt to put slices of lemon on a plate.
Cutlets
To prepare capelin in the form of small and tasty cutlets, we will need such ingredients: a kilo of freshly frozen capelin, several slices of fresh white (or rye) bread, a couple of onions, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper, an egg. And also sunflower oil for frying and fresh herbs for decorating dishes. This is a bright, tasty dish, it is served with any side dishes (from cereals, vegetables and root vegetables, pasta). Cutlets are very tender and juicy, there is a light aroma of the sea. And so that they turn out to be appetizing in appearance, breading semi-finished products in breadcrumbs - not in flour!
How to cook?
The algorithm is as follows:
- So, defrost the fish, but not quite. Then we remove heads with entrails, as well as fins and spinal bones with tails. We wash the carcasses both outside and inside, put it in a container.
- We peel the onion and rinse, cut it into pieces. Skip the capelin fillet, chopped onion with bread slices through a meat grinder. Tip: do not presoak bread.
- Add the egg and salt and pepper to the minced meat to taste. And also introduce a couple of spoons of breading.
- Knead the minced meat. Leave it alone for 15 minutes so that the bread absorbs excess moisture.
- Pour the remaining breading onto a plate, form the meatballs from the minced meat, and then bread them in breadcrumbs on each side.
- Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan, fry the capelin fillet cutlets in it over a medium heat for 3 minutes on each side.
- Turning over to another, cover the pan with a lid and additionally steam the dish. We put the patties on a plate, which we previously cover with a paper towel so that it draws in excess fat.
- We serve food to the table in a warm form. If you want, you can freeze them and then heat them in the microwave as necessary, in batches. This option is good when there is little free time for cooking.
Capelin Sprats
For this culinary delight, we will need the following ingredients: freshly frozen capelin in the amount of one kilogram, about a glass of water, black tea - tea leaves, several parsley, black and allspice peppers, clove buds, salt and soy sauce with vegetable oil.
Cooking:
- Sprats are made in a slow cooker. Well, no doubt, not the original ones that everyone is used to. However, such fish will be cheaper than the store ones, and more useful, and to get smoked aroma, you can use the seasoning "liquid smoke". Mix the spices according to personal preference. By the way, all the bones in the finished dish will be soft - so you do not need to pull them out.
- We brew black tea with boiling water, let it brew, squeeze or filter through a sieve.
- Defrost capelin, remove the insides, rinse thoroughly.
- In a separate container, mix tea with salt and spices, then add soy sauce with sunflower oil. There also - laurel, peppercorns, cloves - a couple of buds.
- Layered fish capelin in layers in the bowl of the multicooker.
- Fill with the prepared mixture. We put the bowl in the kitchen device. Close the lid, turn on the "Extinguishing" mode for 45-60 minutes.
- After the dish is cooked, let it cool completely. We shift the sprats into a jar and pour on top of the liquid in which they were stewed.