Fried Gefilte Fish, a singularly British Jewish food, is made with minced fish, onions and spices, and fried, for a lovely, crisp on the outside, soft on the inside bite.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
The Traditional Recipe
About a year ago, I posted a recipe for the traditional Gefilte fish. As I explained then, the word Gefilte means “stuffed fish” in Yiddish, and this is how you say it:
Gelfite = gə-ˈfil-tə-(guh-fil-tuh)
Today’s recipe is based on that, but instead of poaching the fishballs, we fry them.
Fried Gefilte Fish in Golders Green
My Jewish culinary education took place in the year that I worked in Golders Green in North London, a very Jewish area. I fell in love with both types of gefilte fish, and with Jewish food, generally. The fried gefilte fish has been a favourite since then.
Imagine my surprise on my first trip to Israel, when all I could find were the traditional, poached kinds as in this post. It was only when I got back to London after that trip, that I discovered that the fried versions are, apparently, a very British Jewish tradition.
Homemade Fried Gefilte Fish
Our fried fishball recipe is exactly as the poached one, the only difference is of course, in the cooking!
It’s always a good idea to use different types of fish, a minimum of two but 3 or 4 is ideal – this gives different dimensions of flavours to your final product. For more pictures of the minced fish and the final gefilte fish paste, have a look at the traditional recipe.
This is what we’ll be doing:
- mince the fish
- make the fishball paste by mixing all the ingredients
- form the fishballs
- fry the balls in hot oil
Super easy!
They will keep in the fridge for 2 days. Just take them out 2 hours before serving to allow the fried gefilte fish to come to room temperature. No need to reheat.
How to Serve
- like the poached version, this is also popularly served with Chrain, the spicy mix of horseradish and beet.
- these are traditionally served at room temperature. I often eat them straight out of the fridge the next day.
- it’s also great for picnics
- add it to lunch boxes
- they also make great finger food at parties
This fried gefilte fish is a pretty straightforward recipe: make the paste, form balls, then fry! Shall we get our aprons on?
If you like the recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!
And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor, and hashtag it #linsfood.
Lin xx
More Middle Eastern Recipes on LinsFood
Fried Gefilte Fish – a British Jewish Tradition
Ingredients
- 500 g white fish, a mix haddock, cod, hake
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 40-50 g matzo meal
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1 dash white pepper
- enough light olive oil or vegetable oil for frying don’t have to be deep fried
Instructions
- Pulse the fish a few times until the fish is finely chopped/minced, being careful not to turn it into a paste. Place in a large bowl.500 g white fish, a mix
- Add the onion to the fish in the bowl.1 small onion
- Sprinkle most of the the matzo meal (leaving about 1 Tbsp), sugar, salt and pepper all over the fish and mix well with a wooden spoon.40-50 g matzo meal, 1 tsp white sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 dash white pepper
- Add the egg and mix thoroughly, binding it well. Finish it off with your hands lightly, no squeezing the paste. If it’s too soft, add a little more matzo to firm up.1 egg lightly beaten
- Make 12 small-ish sized fishballs from the mix, leaving just a pinch of the paste aside to test the oil.
- Add some oil in a wok or a frying pan up to a depth of at least 2.5cm/1in and let it heat up on medium heat.enough light olive oil or vegetable oil for frying
- Add a little of the fish paste and if it rises up immediately, the oil is hot enough. Fry the fish balls in two batches for about 3-4 minutes, turning them a few times until medium brown. They’ll keep cooking and turning a shade darker after they’re out for a bit longer, so don’t let them get too brown in the oil.
- When done, take them out of the hot oil and place on a kitchen paper lined plate, to absorb excess oil.You can serve them hot if you like, but these are traditionally served at room temperature.
At last! The fried version and the ingredients look like those mixed by our uk Jewish deli.
They were quite expensive if we bought them but so easy to make yourself. I’d buy a large pickle to go with it.
Even marks and Spencer were selling these for a while but I think they stopped selling their own brand.
My mum used to call them ‘chopped and fried’ many years ago. I’ve googled that name mostly because I wonder if she’d called them that correctly but never found a link.
Anyway, thank you 🙂
My pleasure, and I loved hearing about your experience and your mum’s description.
help me!!! please I need my fish balls! brit living in Israel for 15 years, I miss my fish balls, craving them. but I didn’t see any sugar, there are two kinds the regular and sweet ones, I only ever liked the sweet ones. do you have the recipe for that?! or are these the ones?
I used to love the ones buy in a packet from the supermarket a row of 2 on a white polysterne tray wrapped in cling film.
but the holy grail was the ones for 50p each from golders green store, blooms maybe it soenthign I can’t remember.rught when you come inside, they had them by the counter 50p each!!! vs 12-14 for 3 pounds supermarket. those were OH MY .. ..
sooo.. any luck on that recipe, or the sweet ones. I’m thinking this isn’t it because nothing sweet in the recipe.
help me!!!!
Hi David, there is 1 tsp of sugar in the recipe. It produces fishballs that are just sweet.
Give it a try and you can always up the sugar slightly to yur taste.
It’s pretty much the ones I used to have for lunch in Golders Green.
The traditional poached version is good, but your fried method of cooking is even gooder! This is the way for me now. Thank you.
That’s exactly what I though when I first came across it in north London.
Thanks for dropping a comment!
Made this for our garden party yesterday, Lin and served them at room temperature, complete with the sauce. Everybody loved it. Especially my Jewish friend from north London!
That is so good to hear, Azadeh. I’m pleased that you guys enjoyed it!
Just like dad showed me 40 years ago , I had forgotten the technique. Thank you. John bell of bell’s famous fisheries
A pleasure. Thanks, John, I notice you guys aren’t too far away from me. I didn’t even know there was a fresh fish source near me, I must pop down.