Capelin belongs to the smelt family. This small sea fish has tasty fatty meat. Capelin is prepared quickly, does not require special pre-processing, and dishes are obtained from it - you will lick your fingers! Fried capelin goes well with various vegetable salads and side dishes.
A simple recipe for fried capelin
To just fry capelin in a skillet in vegetable oil, you need very few ingredients:
- 1 kg of capelin;
- Wheat flour;
- vegetable oil;
- salt.
It is not necessary to peel and gut the capelin before cooking. Although fish without gutting can turn out to be a little bitter, this usually does not affect the overall taste of the dish.
If frozen capelin was purchased, thaw it before cooking. To do this, place the fish on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator overnight. Then rinse the fish under running water, transfer to a paper towel and pat dry slightly. Stir the wheat flour with salt in a bowl, carefully roll the capelin in this mixture. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the fish on both sides (about 3-5 minutes) until crisp and golden brown. Transfer the finished capelin to a plate and garnish the fish with finely chopped herbs and fresh or pickled vegetables.
Breaded capelin turns out to be very tasty. For her you need to take:
- 500 g of capelin;
- 2 eggs;
- bread crumbs;
- lemon;
- ground black pepper;
- salt;
- vegetable oil.
Thaw the capelin, lightly salt and pepper it. To remove that specific fishy smell, sprinkle capelin with freshly squeezed lemon juice and let the fish marinate a little. Then beat 2 eggs well in a separate bowl. After that, dip each fish in beaten eggs and roll in breadcrumbs. Put prepared capelin in a skillet with heated vegetable oil and fry it on both sides until golden brown. It takes no more than 10 minutes to cook the fish. Then transfer it to a plate, serve mashed potatoes or vegetables as a side dish.
How to fry capelin in batter
To fry capelin in batter you will need:
- 500-600 g of capelin;
- 1 glass of wheat flour;
- 1 glass of milk;
- 2 eggs;
- 1 tbsp. l. olive oil;
- 2 tbsp. l. butter;
- sunflower oil;
- ground black pepper;
- salt;
- ground ginger;
- 6% table vinegar.
Before serving, it is recommended to pour capelin cooked in batter with melted butter and sprinkle with finely chopped herbs
Defrost the capelin, rinse, cut off the heads and gut. Combine salt, pepper and ground ginger. Sprinkle with the capelin mixture. Sprinkle the fish with vinegar, sprinkle with olive oil, mix well and put the capelin in a cold place for 30 minutes to marinate. At this time, prepare the batter. To do this, separate the egg whites from the yolks. Beat the whites with a mixer until they become thick foam. Add the yolks to the chilled milk, add flour, salt and whisk everything together until smooth. Then carefully put the whipped egg whites into the prepared mass and stir gently with a spoon. Dip the pickled capelin in batter and fry on both sides in a skillet in a large amount of heated sunflower or corn oil. Put the finished fish on a paper towel. This is done to remove excess oil.
