Fiskibollur or fishballs are one of the quintessential dishes you will have at the Icelandic dinner table. They are straightforward to make – and even if you don’t have time to make them from scratch, you can usually buy minced fish at the fishmonger’s (at least in Iceland!). As you already know, with Iceland being an island, fish has played an essential part in the history of Icelanders. So, there is no wonder we have many different fish recipes.
There are two “favourite” ways of eating fish balls: with Icelandic curry sauce (with little to do with authentic Indian curry) or melted butter and fried onions. Then there are, of course, boiled potatoes as well, we can’t forget them. You’ll be hard-pressed to find an Icelander that does not like fiskibollur.
Instead of Icelandic curry or melted butter, it is also possible to have a so-called “pink sauce” with it. It is a warm tomato sauce made from margarine, brown sugar, ketchup and cream. However, we will show you how to make them with just melted butter and fried onion this time.
The family recipe for Icelandic fishballs
- Use one kilo of any white fish (Here, I cooked about 1,7 kilos of Cod)
- One large onion (I did two onions for 1,7 kg of fish)
- 100g wheat (170g for 1,7 kg)
- 100g Potato Starch (170g for 1,7 kg)
- 3 Eggs (5 eggs for 1,7 kg)
- 2 tsp Pepper and 2 of Salt (a little more if you add to the recipe.)
- Add milk based on necessity but about 3 dl, just enough so
- it’s easy to mould the fishballs or fishcakes.
You cut the fish and onions into tiny pieces or put them into a food processor and mix them with wheat, potato starch, eggs, milk, and spices.
Then make small balls or cakes, which you cook on a pan until both sides are golden brown (using Icelandic creamy butter). Then put them into the oven (200 degrees) for 15 minutes.
It’s excellent to melt some butter in a small pot and saute maybe one-third of an onion in the butter. It’s delicious to put this over the fishballs.
This time (by adding to the recipe), it was enough food for three meals for four. You can, for example, use Cod, Haddock, Atlantic Catfish, or Pollock in this recipe.
We just froze the rest of the fishballs for later use; they are easy to fry up and serve with potatoes or rice on another day.
My two boys love the Icelandic fishballs.
If you would like to try more of the traditional food of Iceland, join some of our Reykjavik Food Tours. It’s a great way to experience our history, one delicious bite after another.
