Fiskibollur með rækjusósu

Fish balls in crab sauce

Fiskibollur, i.e. fish balls or fish cakes, are an integral part of everyday Icelandic cuisine. They are regularly found in schools, kindergartens and similar institutions. You can buy fish cakes chilled or frozen in practically every supermarket here in Iceland.

You can also easily make them yourself without much effort. I already have recipes for fish cakes here on the blog, for example very classic fried fish cakes, a long-time favorite from November 2017, for fish cakes with spinach from June 2016 or for spicy fish cakes with coriander and chili from June 2019.

I recently came across this recipe for fish cakes in an old Icelandic cooking magazine - the fish cakes are served in a beautifully spicy tomato and crab sauce. I found that interesting and I really wanted to try it out! I have to say - the fish cakes were good, but the crab sauce was really delicious, I'll definitely make that more often!

The recipe is for 4 servings.

Ingredients for the fish balls

600 g fish fillet (without skin and bones)

6 rusk slices

2 onions

1 bunch of fresh parsley

1 tsp paprika powder

1 pinch of chili pepper

1 tsp coarse sea salt

oil for frying

Ingredients for the crab sauce

1 onion

1 tbsp oil

1 can chopped tomatoes

1/2 dried oregano

1 tsp fish broth powder

1 pinch of coarse sea salt

1 pinch of pepper

150g crabs

water as needed

Preparation

Wash the fish fillet and cut into pieces.

Peel and roughly chop the onions. Wash and pick the parsley. Crumble the rusk a little.

Put all the ingredients for the fish cakes in the blender and puree thoroughly.

Heat the oil in a large pan.

Use a tablespoon to scoop out small portions of the fish farce and fry in oil over medium heat (approx. 3 - 4 minutes per side).

Then set the fried fresh meatballs aside.

For the crab sauce, heat another tablespoon of oil in the pan you are using.

Peel the onion, chop it finely and fry it in the oil for a few minutes.

Then add the chopped tomatoes, oregano and fish stock powder and let the whole thing simmer for about 5 minutes.

Then add the shrimp to the sauce and simmer for about 2 more minutes.

Finally, season the sauce with salt and pepper and serve with the fish cakes, boiled potatoes and crispbread.

[Translated from here.]