Gefilte Fish
Poached oval dumplings of minced white fish, onion and egg in a light fish and vegetable broth, served cold with beetroot horseradish.
Photograph credit: Gefilte Fish (image of gefilte fish on Wikidata Q1146771) by Olaf.herfurth · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Making Gefilte Fish
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Process the fish and chopped onions in batches in a food processor until finely minced. Mix in the eggs, matzo meal, sugar, salt, pepper and water. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
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Put the sliced onions, carrots, water, salt and sugar in a wide pan and simmer for 30 minutes.
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With wet hands, shape the fish mixture into 18 ovals. Lower them gently into the simmering broth.
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Cover with the lid slightly open and poach very gently for 1 hour.
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Leave to cool in the broth, moving the pan to the fridge within 2 hours of cooking, then chill until cold. Serve cold with a slice of carrot and the horseradish.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Tips for Making Gefilte Fish
- Keep the broth at a bare simmer.
- Wet your hands to shape the dumplings.
- The broth sets to a light jelly when chilled.
What to Serve with Gefilte Fish
- Beetroot horseradish
- Challah
- Pickled cucumbers
- Matzo
Storing & Reheating Gefilte Fish
Keeps in the fridge for 4 days in its broth.
Questions About Gefilte Fish
How long does Gefilte Fish take to make?
45 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 40 minutes of cooking, plus 1 hour of Chilling the fish mixture, so allow 3 hours 25 minutes from start to finish. The method also needs time for cooling in the broth and chilling, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 10.
Gefilte Fish Nutrition
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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