Marinated fish is a rather popular dish that is often part of the Russian New Year’s table. It can be served as the main entrée or as a cold appetizer (by putting it in the refrigerator and letting it soak in the marinade overnight, it only tastes better).

When the recipe appeared cannot be said for certain, but one of its main components—vinegar—was mentioned as a regular ingredient in the main annals of Russian life in the 16th century, the “Domostroi”. Before tomatoes started to be widely used in Russian cuisine, fish was prepared with a so-called white marinade. However, the red marinade made from tomatoes and carrots gradually became more popular.

It’s best to use a white fish, like cod, tilapia, hake, halibut, or pike perch, as the basis. We used pike perch.

Five steps to a perfect Russian appetiizer:

1) To make the marinade, we grate the carrots and parsley root with a coarse grater and slice the onion into half rings. 

2) While all of this is frying, we take a little tomato paste with water, vinegar, and sugar - add this mix to a dry soup mixture of fried onions and carrots. We add some peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves.

3) For the fish: cut it into medium-size cubes. 

4) Roll the fish a little bit in flour and then fry the fish in the pan. 

5) As soon as the fish is fried, we put it on a separate plate and pour our marinade on top. When the fish cools, you can serve it on the table. It’s healthy and delicious. Enjoy!