Vinaigrette Salad with Crispy Smelt
This is a modern take on the old habit of serving a vegetable salad alongside fish. Vinaigrette, in the post-Soviet sense, isn’t a dressing but a beet-based salad of diced boiled vegetables. In place of the usual herring, small smelt are marinated in soy sauce with sesame oil and Tabasco, then fried in cornstarch to a thin golden crust, just 1 to 2 minutes a side.
The salad itself stays recognizable: boiled beets, potatoes, and carrots with pickled cucumbers and red onion, dressed with sunflower oil, Dijon, and wine vinegar. No mayonnaise, only oil, ideally the unrefined “with the seed” kind prized for its aroma.
- Cornstarch gives a thinner coating and a paler crust than flour, with no earthy aftertaste.
- Add the sesame oil to the marinade only; over high heat in the pan it turns bitter.
- No smelt? Capelin or sprat fry up the same way.
Set the fish on top or to the side right before serving so it stays crisp. The vinaigrette can be dressed ahead; it only soaks up more flavor.
Part of Ukrainian cuisine — 287 more recipes in the section.
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Ingredients
Instructions
For the vinaigrette, boil the potatoes, beets, and carrot in their skins until tender, cool, and peel.
Combine the marinade ingredients and stir. Wash the smelt, clean out the innards (if the fish are very small, you can skip this step), put them in a bowl, pour the marinade over, and leave for at least half an hour.
Cut the vinaigrette vegetables into small dice.
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small glass jar, seal with the lid, and shake well until smooth and thick.
Put the vegetables in a bowl, add the dressing, season with salt, stir, and refrigerate.
Take the smelt out of the marinade, pat dry with a paper towel, and dredge in cornstarch. Heat oil in a skillet and fry the fish for 1 to 2 minutes per side. Then transfer to a paper towel to absorb the excess fat.
Serve the vinaigrette with the fried smelt.
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