The Baltic Sea and many of our inland waters suffer from excessive nutrient loads. Putting bream, roach, Baltic herring, vendace and perch to good use is a cost-efficient way to combat eutrophication.
We have created a delicious Baltic Sea friendly dish, Baltic Sea Tacos, in collaboration with chef Mikko Uosukainen. Try this recipe out in your own kitchen, or create your own, and post a picture of your version with #kiiltoforthebalticsea to join the challenge.
Each image posted in social media and marked with the #kiiltoforthebalticsea tag increases the amount of our donation to the John Nurminen Foundation, in addition to our annual support.
Baltic Sea Tacos (for 4 people)
- 400 g cleaned vendace
- 16 mini tortillas (wheat or corn)
Pickled vegetables:
- 2 field cucumbers
- 2 carrots
- 2 candy stripe beets
- 1 fresh chili
- 1/2 bunch dill
- 6 tbsp white vinegar
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1,5 tsp salt
Summer cabbage garnish:
- 1 summer cabbage
- 400 g Turkish yoghurt
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
- 4 cm piece of horseradish
- salt and pepper
Deep frying batter:
- 1,5 dl all purpose flour
- 0,5 tsp baking powder
- 0,5 tsp salt
- 0,5 dl bread crumbs
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 dl buttermilk
- salt and pepper
- Sun flower oil for deep frying
- Halloumi-style cheese and wood sorrel or other fresh (wild) herbs.
Pickled vegetables:
Start by washing the vegetables and cutting them into thin slices. Chop the dill and the chili. Mix all the ingredients inside a mason jar. Give the vegetables a good shake for a couple of seconds. Let them rest inside a fridge until rest of the preparations are ready.
Summer cabbage garnish:
Chop the cabbage into thin slices. Chop the cilantro and grate the peeled horseradish. Mix everything with the yoghurt and season with salt and pepper. Let the garnish rest inside a fridge until you are ready with the vendace.
Deep fried vendace:
Mix all the ingredients for the batter and let it rest for 10 minutes. While the batter is resting season the vendace with salt. Heat the oil inside a heavy pot until 175 °C.
Dip the vendace into the batter and then straight into the hot deep frying oil. Cook until golden brown. Work in batches to prevent the vendace from sticking to each other.
Transfer the deep fried vendace to a plate lined with paper towel and season with some more salt.
Fill the tacos first with the caggabe garnish, then with the vendace and the pickled vegetables. Finish the tacos by grating some halloumi-style cheese on top of them and garnish with wood sorrel or other fresh (wild herbs). You can also add some hot sauce.