Gypsy style herring is a cold dish made from herring fillets, pickles, mushrooms and onions. After cutting, the ingredients are mixed with a ketchup based sauce with an addition of mustard and seasoned to taste with pepper, salt and paprika. Herring prepared in such a way is great as an appetizer or snack, served during Christmas, but also during any other celebration.
I usually start the preparation of Gypsy style herrings by frying the onion in a little oil. Thanks to the frying, the onion becomes not only soft, but also acquires a slightly creamy consistency. The onion could also be softened by pouring boiling water over it, but its consistency will not be the same as of the fried ones. In fact, frying the onion is the only activity that requires any cooking, there is no need to cook other ingredients.
After removing them from the brine in which they are marinated, the mushrooms and pickles can be cut into cubes. I don’t peel the pickles because I like when they crunch under my teeth while eating. If I use salted herrings, I first soak them in water, but in case of using herrings in oil brine, I first wipe them with a paper towel, then cut them into pieces. To finish, put all the ingredients into a bowl and combine.
As it is good for the ingredients to stand together for a while, I usually like to make this dish in the evening, so that after preparation I can leave it in the fridge overnight. You can serve gypsy style herrings with bread, especially when served with freshly baked bread or rolls it tastes sensational. I suggest you to reach for the Gypsy style herring recipe below and I hope you will like it.
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Ingredients for Gypsy style herring.
- 400 g herring fillets in oil or salted
- 200 g pickled cucumbers
- 100 g marinated forest mushrooms
- 400 g spicy ketchup
- 250 g onion
- 4 tablespoons of oil
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon of mustard
- 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika powder
- 3/4 teaspoon of crystal sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
How to make Gypsy style herring.
Cut the peeled onion into feathers, put them in a pan and add oil. Fry over a medium heat for 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onion should soften but not get burnt or browned. Cool the fried onion. Cut the herring into 2 cm pieces, and place them in a bowl. In the same bowl, put medium-sized cubed pickles and marinated mushrooms, onion, bay leaves, sugar, pepper, mustard, ground paprika and ketchup. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly, then cover the bowl and put it in the fridge overnight or for a few hours. Serve the Gypsy style herring cold with the addition of bread.
Good to know when making Gypsy style herring.
This dish can be prepared with herring in oil brine or salted herring. It is important to soak the salted herring fillets in cold water before you add them to the dish. It is best to soak the herrings for several hours, and change the water in which they are being soaked several times. On the other hand, it is good to wipe the oil brine from the herrings with a paper towel before cutting them.
If you don’t want to or cannot use marinated forest mushrooms, marinated champignons are a good option. Gherkins may replace the pickled cucumbers.
You can also use mild ketchup instead of the spicy one, and can add spices to the dish, such as ground hot pepper.
I used grainy Dijon mustard, but you can also use creamy Dijon mustard or opt for sapper mustard.
Do you like dishes with herring? If so, try our recipe for Herring tartare.
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