Fish lovers should definitely know all kinds of recipes for dishes that can be prepared from it. These can be main treats, main courses, and snacks. But today we will look at how you can prepare heh from crucian carp. While many people can fry and bake this fish, not everyone can prepare a treat from it that came to us from Korea. But in vain, even those who don’t like this bony fish can create this dish. The thing is that when cooking crucian carp meat, all the bones are completely cleaned out, so when eating this snack, not a single bone will interfere with enjoying the wonderful taste.
Heh from crucian carp will be a delicious decoration on any table
Cooking rules
The recipe for the dish is not particularly difficult, so anyone can repeat it. The main thing is strict adherence to simple rules .
What do we have to do:
- It is advisable to use the fish chilled. If it is frozen, it will not retain its integrity and the entire composition of useful substances.
- Before starting cooking, you must thoroughly clean the crucian carp and gut it. The scales under the fins should be removed. After cleaning, be sure to rinse the fish from the inside.
- It is worth cutting off the skin: this will make the dish softer.
- To clean the bones, cut the fish crosswise, removing the backbone with large bones. Small ones can be picked up with tweezers.
- Cut the crucian carp fillet so that the slices are long and even.
- You should pour vinegar over the fish in advance. In order not to turn its meat into porridge, it is necessary to mix the slices very carefully.
- It is advisable to add cilantro with red pepper. These seasonings are great for snacking.
Cooking features
The process of preparing heh from crucian carp does not take too much time and does not require great culinary skill. If you do not violate the technology for preparing this dish, you will certainly be pleased with the result.
- Crucian carp for making heh can be used fresh or frozen. Fresh snacks are more tender, but frozen ones are safer for health. River fish are often affected by parasites that die when frozen. Considering that when cooking heh crucian carp are not subjected to heat treatment, this point is important. To ensure that the fish does not lose its juiciness when defrosting, it is allowed to thaw gradually, without exposing it to sudden temperature changes.
- To prepare heh crucian carp, you need to clean it well. There should be no scales left at all, even under the fins. To prevent the fish from slipping out of your hands, you can wear fabric gloves. It is convenient to clean fish on a special board with a tail clamp.
- To prevent scales from flying around the room while cleaning the fish, the crucian carp is immersed in water or placed in a bag.
- After cleaning the crucian carp, you need to gut it. This should be done carefully so as not to damage the gallbladder, otherwise the dish will have a bitter taste. The black film covering the inside of the abdomen must be removed during gutting.
- After gutting, the head, tail, and fins are removed from the crucian carp, after which the carcass is cut and the backbone and rib bones are removed. You shouldn’t even try to remove every single small bone from the crucian carp, but you don’t need to worry about their presence either: they will soften and collapse under the influence of vinegar at further stages of preparing the snack.
- It will be possible to marinate crucian carp with the skin, but the food will be softer and more pleasant to taste if the skin is removed.
- The required ingredients when preparing crucian carp heh are coriander, red pepper, vinegar, refined vegetable oil and salt, which can be replaced or supplemented with soy sauce. Snacks often include onions, carrots, garlic, herbs, paprika, black pepper and other spices, which makes the dish even more tasty and appetizing.
- The marinating time for crucian carp depends on the size of its pieces and the amount of vinegar, usually it is 8 hours. It is not recommended to marinate fish for longer than 2 days, as during this time it softens too much, and the food can turn into porridge.
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Khe from crucian carp can be served in a salad bowl, in tartlets or on skewers. This appetizer is good on its own, but it is often complemented with boiled potatoes and rice.
Recipe for classic heh ikh crucian carp
Traditional cooking is not particularly difficult. The dish is easy to prepare at home.
Required ingredients:
- crucian carp – 2 kg;
- onion – 5 pcs.;
- carrots – 2 pcs.;
- table vinegar – 2 tablespoons;
- salt – 25 g;
- ground red pepper – 5 g;
- paprika – 10 g;
- allspice – 1 tsp;
- vegetable oil – 0.2 l.
Clean the fish thoroughly, removing scales and under the fins. Cut open the belly and carefully remove the entrails. Rinse the crucian carp thoroughly under cold water.
Attention. The head, tail and fins are cut off: they are not used in cooking.
Cut the fish in half. Remove the backbone with bones. The smallest ones are grabbed with tweezers. The finished fillet is cut into slices.
How to properly cut vegetables:
- Remove the onion skins from the vegetable and rinse with water.
- Cut it into half rings or rings.
- Wash and peel the carrots. Then chop it into long, thin strips.
Attention. If the housewife has a grater for Korean carrots, it is better to use it. If not available, use a regular one with a large grille.
Technique for mixing ingredients correctly:
- Place the onion in a container with cleaned fish when all the vegetables have already been chopped.
- Season with peppers and add salt . Let the mixture sit for a little while so that it is saturated with spices.
- Place the frying pan over medium heat. Pour vegetable oil there. When hot, add bell pepper. Then mix everything and remove from heat. Pour the resulting oil and pepper over the fish and stir.
- Place carrot sticks in a container with crucian carp and onions . Pour vinegar over everything and mix thoroughly but gently. The resulting marinade should be evenly distributed.
- Place the mixture in a jar and cover it with a lid. Place in a cool place and leave overnight.
The next day the dish is served. If the recipe is completely followed, you will get a delicious snack .
Cooking process
Crucian carp khe is a delicious fish appetizer that will definitely appeal to those who love marinated fish. Heh is prepared from almost any fish, but if your region is full of crucian carp, especially in the spring when it spawns, then creating heh from it will be as easy as shelling pears!
Remember that such a snack should be allowed to brew for at least 2-4 hours, or even better, leave it in the refrigerator overnight. During this time, the fish will marinate completely, becoming enveloped in the aromas of spices. I don't use paprika because I think it overpowers the dish with its sweet flavor, but you can add it if you like.
Garlic in the dish will also be unnecessary; it will overpower the taste of the fish itself with its aroma. Small crucian carp have a lot of bones, so they are not fried or boiled, but used for heh or dried for beer. The bones of large crucian carp are cut off and the flesh is filleted.
So, prepare the necessary ingredients to prepare crucian carp heh at home and let’s start cooking!
Peel the carrots, rinse and grate on a Korean carrot grater. Also peel, wash and cut the onion into half rings. Place the vegetable slices in a deep container.
Peel the crucian carp and rinse. Then rip open the bellies of the fish and remove the entrails, as well as the black film inside - it is very bitter. Be sure to rinse again. Cut off the heads, tails, and all fins. Fillet large fish, remove the backbone, and cut into portions. Cut the small ones into pieces. Place the fish parts in a bowl with the vegetable slices.
Add salt, pepper and ground coriander. Pour in vinegar and mix everything.
Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan, pour it hot into the container and mix everything thoroughly again. Leave it under cling film or place it in a jar or container and place it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, maximum for a day or two. Don't forget to stir it for even cooking.
Place the finished crucian carp heh on a plate or in bowls and serve chilled.
Korean heh with crucian carp
The dish can be prepared differently. The recipe will then include soy sauce . The product will give the snack a special piquant taste . Soy sauce is sold ready-made. It can be found on the shelves of any supermarket.
To prepare heh with crucian carp according to the Korean recipe, you need to prepare the following products:
- crucian carp – 2–3 pcs.;
- onion – 5 pcs.;
- garlic cloves – 5 pcs.;
- cilantro – 1 tsp;
- red pepper – 1 tbsp. l.;
- vinegar – 50 ml;
- soy sauce – 80 ml;
- sugar – 1 tbsp. l.;
- salt – 1 tbsp. l.;
- vegetable oil – 80 ml;
- greens (dill with parsley) - several branches.
Fish cooking technique:
Wash the crucian carp well in cold water. Remove scales, removing them under the fins and on the belly.- Remove the entrails and rinse the fish to remove any remains.
- The head, fins and tail are cut off.
- Cut the crucian carp in half.
- Cut out the backbone with large bones. Remove small ones with tweezers.
- Cut off the skin.
- Cut the resulting fillet into slices using a sharp knife blade.
When the fish pieces are ready, you should start with the vegetables. Take an onion and peel it. Then they cut it into rings and add them to the container with crucian carp.
Garlic cloves are peeled and cut into thin slices. Place them in a container.
The frying pan is filled with vegetable oil . After this, it is heated over medium heat. Add pepper to the oil. Fry for about three minutes. Pour the pepper with vegetable oil into a container with crucian carp, onion rings and garlic.
Wash the dill and parsley and chop them finely. Pour into container.
In a small bowl, mix coriander with salt and sugar. Pour soy sauce and vinegar . Mix well and carefully. The prepared marinade is poured onto fish slices, onion rings and garlic. Stir thoroughly.
Important. The marinade should be evenly distributed and saturate all the ingredients.
At the end of cooking, close the container with a lid and put it in a cool place. Keep the dish there overnight . The next day it can be served.
Heh from crucian carp
An Asian dish called heh is prepared without heat treatment from almost all types of fish that have elastic meat. The result is something tasty that can be classified as salads and cold appetizers. When preparing a dish from river fish, you need to work hard and remove all the bones.
Cooking heh from crucian carp has a small peculiarity. It is better to use fresh but chilled fish, so it is easier to cut. The fillets are not cut into very thin pieces, otherwise they will limp under the influence of vinegar and turn into a shapeless mass if they are mixed vigorously and roughly.
Heh turns out tastier than their large carcasses; small crucian carp are better fried whole.
A simple recipe for marinated crucian carp with onions, oil and vinegar
You can marinate crucian carp in vinegar using a simple, time-tested recipe. The meat turns out tender, tasty and aromatic.
Components:
- crucian carp – 400 g;
- onion – 1 piece;
- bay leaf – 3 pcs;
- peppercorns - to taste;
- vinegar 9% – 2 tbsp. l.;
- salt – 1 glass;
- vegetable oil – 4 tbsp. l.
Cooking method:
- Rinse the carcass, clean, gut and dry. Remove the head and fins. Divide in half and cut into thin pieces.
- Sprinkle the meat with salt. Stir. Leave to infuse for 2 hours. Afterwards, rinse each piece in water to remove all the salt.
- Peel the skins from the onion. Cut into half rings.
- Disinfect the pickling jar with boiling water or steam along with the lid. Place bay leaf and other spicy ingredients in it.
- Then distribute the fish in rows, sandwiching onion rings between them. Once the jar is full, pour the vinegar and oil on top. Close with a nylon lid. Place in the refrigerator for 5-6 hours. Afterwards you can take out the fish and eat it.
The calorie content of the snack per 100 g is 139 Kcal.
You will find another simple and quick cooking option in the following video below:
Nuances and secrets of cooking
Any kitchen is based on a set of certain rules in the preparation of certain dishes. That is why, before you start cooking crucian carp heh at home, experts in Korean cuisine suggest that you familiarize yourself with the basic nuances and rules for preparing this dish:
- To preserve the beneficial components and integrity of the fish fillets, the product must meet the following criteria: be fresh, slightly chilled, but not frozen.
- The fish must undergo high-quality cleaning from scales, especially in the area under the fins, from the skin covering the carcass, and from inedible entrails, in particular, from black film.
- As mentioned above, the bones from the fish must be completely removed. A similar process is carried out by cutting the carcass along the ridge, followed by removing large bones and the skeleton of the fish itself.
- The fish fillet, separated from the bones, is portioned into pieces several centimeters wide using a sharp knife.
- The fish preparation is seasoned with vinegar, seasonings, especially coriander and red pepper.
- The pieces of fish are mixed with great care so that the tender slices of fish do not turn into mush, and the dish is set aside to infuse.
