Vegan gefilte fish for passover seder פסח

Vegan 'Gefilte Fish' for Passover Seder

 

Passover is coming and with it all the traditional holiday food.
I was never a big fan of this traditional dish, It is a fish ball in kind of a jellified sauce and it was served cold as an appetizer on the Seder table.

It is very common in European Jewish families. I took the idea and the presentation and made my own vegan version, just to keep the tradition alive. In my humble opinion, this recipe is way better than the original one (again, wasn't a fan.... :)).

This is a tofu ball infused with seaweed, which give it the essence of the sea without harming any fish.

It is a flavorful and nutritional dish, and it is served in the exact same method as the original. In the notes, you can find ways to make it even more similar to the original dish, so you can decide how you like it.

Enjoy!

If you want more vegan Passover recipes, remember I am going to post all my favorites in the next week, just in time for Seder. 

Check out these Passover Recipes:

Vegan Matzo Ball Soup

Vegan Garlic Matzah Bruschetta for Passover Seder

Vegan Hard Boiled Eggs for Passover Seder

Vegan Caramel and Hazelnuts Tart (Gluten-Free)

Mushroom and Chestnuts Pie for Passover Seder (Gluten-Free)

Classic and Quick Charoset for Passover Seder

Matzah, Chocolate, and Strawberries Layered Cake

Classic Matzah Brei (Matzah Pancake) for Passover


Purple Wildflour Vegan Bakery

Seaweed

The seaweed in this recipe gives the dish that fish-like smell and taste that does the trick for me, plus they are so nutritional. They provide all sorts of minerals and vitamins. Several nutrients you get from these snacks are iodine, copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, and calcium and they are high in fiber.

Tofu

 Tofu is the most common source of protein in most vegan diets. Tofu is low in calories but high in protein and fat which make it a great substitute to use in main course dishes. It also contains many important vitamins and minerals, such as calcium, manganese, selenium and iron.

Purple Wildflour Vegan Bakery

Whenever I go in the kitchen, whether it is for cooking or baking, I need to have my music with me. I thought it would be nice to share with you the exact song that describes my feeling towards each recipe. That way you can have a similar experience while cooking... 

Recipe's song:

This recipe is a very fun recipe to make, I don't know what it is (maybe the seaweed?). In any way, it makes me think of this song Valerie by Amy Winehouse, which I absolutely love.

Purple Wildflour Vegan Bakery

Let's start:

Prep time: 10 min.
Baking time: 20 min.
Cooking sauce: 20 min. Cooking fish balls: 15 min. 
Difficultysimple Servings: 10 Balls

 

Tools:

Ingredients:

Fish Ball :

Cooking Sauce:

 Instructions:
  1. Prepare the gefilte
  2. Cut the onion into small cubes and grate the the carrot. (use the biggest option on your grater, you want thin pieces of carrot but not carrot puree).
  3. Heat up a saucepan and the oil, add the onion and saute until fragrant.
  4. In the meantime, drain the tofu well and place in the mixing bowl. Crumble the tofu using your hands or a fork.  Crumble the sea weeds with you hands and add to the bowl. If you are having trouble crumbling the sea weed by hand, you can cut it to small strips.
  5. When the the onion and carrot are well cooked, set aside to cool down.
  6. Add the rest of the ingredients to the tofu bowl, except for the broth/ water.
  7. Add the onion and carrots, mix well.
  8. The mixture should be blended well and firm enough to form a ball.
  9. Add the broth little by little if the mixture feels too dry.
  10. If the mixture is too wet, you can add 1-2 tbsp of matzo meal.
  11. Place the balls on a baking sheet. Heat your oven to 350F.
  12. Lightly spray your fish balls in oil to prevent them from sticking.
  13. Bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes, turn the balls upside down and return to bake for another 10 minutes.
  14. Prepare the Sauce:
  15. While the fish balls are baking, heat oil in the saucepan. 
  16. Cut the onion to 8 pieces (fairly big) and add to the pan, fry for two minutes and then add the water/ broth.
  17. Add the rest of the ingredients (the carrot should be whole) and let them all cook together on low heat, covered, for 20 minutes.
  18. If using agar agar, make sure to let the sauce boil for at least 3 minutes to activate it properly.
  19. When the balls are baked, remove from the oven and place in the sauce for another 15 minutes on low heat.
  20. When serving, cut the carrot from the sauce to slices and place on top of the balls.
  21. Enjoy!


Purple Wildflour Vegan Bakery

 Notes - 

The agar agar is not really necessary for this recipe. I find that I like it better without it. The sole purpose of the agar agar is to give the sauce a little of the gel texture that the original dish has. If you want it as a perfect imitation, you can add the agar agar, if you don't, you can give it up. 

** Some people prefer their gefilte sweet. If you prefer the gefilte to be sweet, substitute 2 of the mustard tbsp with maple in the recipe for the balls, and reduce the salt.

 

Have you already tried it?

Go ahead, share your version with me, take a picture and tag @pwildflour

Let me know what you think of the recipe in the comments section :)
Purple Wildflour Vegan Bakery

 

 

 

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1 comment

Hi! I’m in the middle of making this for my sedar tonight, but when I get to the part about 3 litres of water (under the fish ball ingredients), I’m confused. That would make the mixture too wet, no? Do you mean to add from that water if needed? Thanks!
Suzanne

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