Minced herring with blinis

Name: Minced herring with blinis (Sillikaviaari)
Cuisine: Finnish
Ingredients: 1 salted herring, cut into two fillets; about 10 ml/2 tsp double (heavy) cream; 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped; ½ onion, very finely chopped; 15 ml/1 tbsp fine fresh breadcrumbs; 2.5 ml/½ tsp mustard (see Cook’s tip); 15 ml/1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley; about 5 ml/1 tsp caster (superfine) sugar; ground white pepper; 450 ml/15 fl oz/scant 2 cups milk; 25 g/1 oz fresh yeast; 60 g/2¼ oz/generorus ½ cup buckwheat flour; about 90 g/3½ oz/¾ cup plain (all-purpose) flour; 5 ml/1 tsp salt; 2 eggs, separated, plus 2 egg whites; 2 eggs, separated, plus 2 egg whites; butter or vegetable oil, for shallow frying; butter or vegetable oil, for shallow frying

Sillikaviaari

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Food and Cooking of Finland

By Anja Hill

Published 2007

About

Herring, like caviar, has a pronounced fish taste and the ingredients mixed into this paste are the same as those traditionally served with caviar. Warm, freshly cooked blinis make an ideal accompaniment. Serve as an appetizer on their own or as part of a light lunch with a crunchy green salad.

Ingredients

1 salted herring, cut into two fillets
about 10 ml/2 tsp double (heavy) cream

Europe
Finland
Appetizer
Pescatarian
Nordic

Method

Soak the herring fillets in cold water for at least 2–3 hours or, preferably, overnight. Remove the skin then chop the flesh very finely or mince (grind).
Add enough cream to the minced (ground) fish to form a paste, then add the hard-boiled eggs, onion, breadcrumbs, mustard and parsley. Add the sugar to taste and season with pepper.
To make the blini