Submitted by Jane Morgenstern.

This is my husbands’s grandmother’s recipe, passed down to her daughter, my mother-in-law. His grandmother would always make her own fresh gefilte fish, and by fresh, we mean fresh, as the carp was swimming in the bathtub. We have done away with that step, and purchased our fish already ground from the market, however the rest of the recipe is the same as it was.

This recipe makes two kinds of gefilte fish, the regular balls and the balls stuffed into a carp steak. Feel free to do both or one or the other, the steps are the same. Measurements are approximate, as it’s a family recipe so there are no exact measurements, and amounts can be modified according to taste.

Ingredients

• Approx 10 pieces of wide carp steaks
• Approx 1 kilo ground fish – usually carp
• 2 – 3 carrots
• 2 – 3 onions
• oil, in our recipe we used regular canola oil
• salt
• pepper
• matza meal
• sugar
• allspice – in our recipe we used the whole allspice balls

Preparation

For the Gefilte Fish:

1. Place the ground fish in a large bowl
2. Add one finely grated carrot
3. Add 1/2 to 1 full grated onion – squeeze out excess water by hand before adding the onion
4. Add approx 3 spoonfuls of canola oil (medium spoons)
5. Mix by hand
6. Add salt according to taste
7. Add black pepper according to taste
8. Mix by hand
9. Add matza meal: we added 2 large spoonfuls, however you want the matza meal to hold the mixture together, so if it is too loose, then add more
10. Add approx one medium spoonful of sugar – again , add according to taste. some like more sugar in the gefilte, others prefer less
11. Place the mixture in the fridge until the cooking liquid is ready

For the Broth: This is basically a soup that the fish will cook in.

1. Use a large soup pot, or even two soup pots if you don’t want the pot to be overcrowded
2. Add on large carrot, peeled and sliced
3. Add 1 or 2 onions sliced -according to your taste
4. Fill approx halfway with water
5. Add approx one spoon of sugar – can modify according to your taste
6. Add salt and pepper to taste
7. Add some allspice to taste – we added approx 5 or 6 allspice balls
8. Bring to a boil
9. Once the broth is boiling, remove the fish from the fridge and begin to form medium sized balls, as if you are making meatballs. Note that they will expand quite a bit in the broth, so don’t make them too large. If you notice the mixture is not holding together well, you can add more matza meal. Drop the balls into the broth, and cook for approx 10 min then turn down heat, to medium, and cook for 2 hours. For the carp steaks stuffed with gefilte fish, take some ground fish and stuff into the empty space in the steak. Drop the carp steak into the broth to cook, along with the regular balls.
10. After 2 hours, removed the balls from the broth and place on a tray. Remove the sliced carrot and place one piece on each piece of fish.

*Some people add an egg to the ground fish when mixing, this is optional*

Region: Europe