Easy Smoked Herrings with Onions Recipe
Smoked Herrings with Onions is a light, delicious dish, perfect for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Herrings filets are soaked, pan-fried, and added to a flavorful tomato and onion sauce seasoned with Noubess Fish & Seafood Seasoning.
Smoked Herrings are desalted and then cooked in a savory, hot, and spicy tomato mixture seasoned with Noubess Fish and Seafood Seasoning and Noubess Hot and Spicy Mango with Herbs. An easy and delicious seafood meal.
It is very common to cook with salt fish in the Caribbean. Cod Fish, bacalao, and smoked herrings are the two popular salt fish consumed. In Haiti, herrings are cooked with eggs at breakfast or cooked and served in a creole sauce with boiled plantains or root vegetables. Herrings in Creole sauce or with onions are served with bread. A special herring treat would be “pain hareng,” bread with herrings also served at breakfast or lunch. A typical or popular appetizer would be Chiquetaille, a mixture of vinegar, oil, onion, hot peppers, spices, and herrings.
How to Prepare Smoked Herrings for cooking
You can use whole or herring fillets. For this recipe, we’re using filets. The filets are rinsed under running water and soaked in water and vinegar for a few hours. The seasoning for this herrings recipe is simple. We use Noubess Fish and Seafood Seasoning, Salt-Free. It has lots of flavors and contains no salt, which is perfect.
Always use a no salt or salt-free seasoning in any herrings recipe. If you add salt, the dish will be salty.
The filets are cut into small chunks and pan-fried in olive oil. After adding the tomato paste and the onion, one main ingredient is lemon juice. Lemon juice will add a little bit of acidity, which is what all seafood needs. It can never go wrong with adding lemon juice to seafood.
You can use tomato paste or fresh tomatoes to make the sauce. Just remember to cook the tomatoes separately so they can release their juices. This sauce is similar to a Creole sauce.
Add all your ingredients to a saucepan and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes until all flavors have been completely incorporated.
Essential Ingredients for cooking
- Smoked Herrings Filets: choose filets that look fresh and moist. If too dried don’t buy.
- Water and vinegar bath or mixture: it is essential to use a lot of water to soak the herrings. Adding a couple of tablespoons of white vinegar makes a huge difference as the salt fish has a strong odor. The vinegar will help eliminate some of the odor.
- Hot sauce or hot pepper: it is essential to use either one. A whole pepper will add aroma and flavor as well as regular hot sauce. The whole pepper should not burst or cut open as the sauce will be peppery hot. If using hot sauce, use a good hot sauce brand. We use Noubess hot and spicy condiments because they barely have a vinegar taste. You should never taste a lot of vinegar in a hot sauce. Those types of hot sauces will ruin your meals.
- Use fresh herbs such as parsley, thyme, and garlic if you don’t have a salt-free seafood seasoning similar to Noubess Fish and Seafood Seasoning.
- Try to always use tomato paste. If using fresh tomatoes, buy juicy tomatoes as they are easier to cook with and create a thick sauce.
Other ways to use and incorporate into meals
Serve Smoked Herrings with boiled plantains, rice, beans, or even over a simple grains dish like quinoa or bulgur wheat. Add pizza topping or add it to your favorite appetizer or cream cheese spread.
Here’s the recipe.
Smoked Herrings with Onions
Ingredients
- ½ pound Smoked Herrings Filets desalted, sliced or cut in small chunks
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoon low sodium tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Noubess Fish & Seafood Seasoning no-salt only
- 1 1 /2 teaspoon Noubess Hot and Spicy Sauce Original, Mango or Pineapple
- 3/4 – 1 cup water room temperature
- 1 large onion chopped or sliced
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Instructions
- To desalt smoked herrings, rinse under running water and place in a large bowl deep enough to hold about 4 – 6 quarts of water. Pour water over herrings and add 2 – 3 tablespoons of cooking white vinegar. Let soak for about 3-4 hours or overnight (if you are not cooking it right away). Remove herrings from water and rinse again under running water. Dry with a towel paper and either slice or chop in chunks and set aside.
- In a saucepan, heat oil on medium heat. Add desalted herrings and cook in oil while stirring for about 3 – 5 minutes. Add Noubess Fish & Seafood Seasoning, no-salt, Noubess Hot and Spicy Sauce (Original, Mango or Pineapple), tomato paste and stir well. Add water and bring to a boil. Add onion and lime juice. Lower heat and continue to cook until herrings are cooked, about 7 – 10 minutes. Add additional water if necessary. Remove and serve immediately with a side of grains, bread, boil root vegetables or boiled plantains
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Notes
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
