Stewed navaga with carrots and onions

Publication in the group: Fish and seafood dishes

Navaga is a fish, otherwise called Sakhalin vakhnya. It is widespread in the Northern Seas, off the coast of Japan. Unlike more famous varieties, such as mackerel, pollock, hake, it is not so popular and does not often appear on the tables of residents of the post-Soviet space. But the residents of Japan hold this type of fish in special esteem. Navaga is low-calorie and at the same time rich in protein and microelements. There are many recipe options for preparing dishes from this fish, which are not only healthy, but also very tasty.

Sakhalin Vakhnya: 10 recipes for delicious and affordable dishes

The Far Eastern nurse navaga is also called vakhnya.
It lives only in the seas of the island region, the northern reservoirs of our country and near the coast of Japan. And for more than half a century, navaga has remained at the top of the main catch of Sakhalin fishermen. The Sakhalin endemic is also popular among housewives and cooks. True, everyone who prepares vakhnya is faced with its main feature - high allergenicity. But experts note: navaga actively produces an allergen only when boiled, so it is better to fry or stew it. To prevent your hands from itching after cutting navaga, you need to clean it with gloves under running water.

Cod fillet is low-calorie, it contains a lot of protein and useful microelements. It is no coincidence that it is loved in Japan, a country where healthy eating has become a cult.

How is it prepared, Sakhalin vakhnya? We offer Top 10 recipes.

Recipes from chef Alexander Besedin

Navaga in batter

You will need: navaga fillet - 400 g, salt, half a lemon, ready-made batter () or homemade - 200 g, flour 200 g, mineral water - 100 ml.

Cut the fillet into small pieces, sprinkle with salt and pour over lemon juice. Dilute the batter with mineral water. Dip fillet pieces into flour, then into batter. Fry in a hot frying pan in vegetable oil.

Tempura from navaga

You will need: navaga fillet - 400 g, half an egg, a pinch of red pepper, sugar, salt, onion and bell pepper to taste, a handful of batter flour.

Beat the fillet, onion and bell pepper in a blender until smooth. Add salt, sugar and red pepper. Lightly sprinkle the minced meat with batter. Fry in a hot frying pan in vegetable oil.

Recipes of Sakhalin housewives

Fried navaga (the simplest and most popular way to cook fish)

We cut up the fish and clean it. Mix flour (or breadcrumbs) in a plate with salt, roll in navaga and fry on both sides in a hot frying pan in vegetable oil.

Navaga stewed in sour cream with onions and carrots

We clean the navaga, wash it, trim off the fins and tail, and cut it into small pieces. Salt, pepper and lightly fry in a small amount of vegetable oil.

Chop the onion, grate the carrots on a coarse grater and fry them in a separate bowl until half cooked. Transfer half the vegetables into a deep frying pan or saucepan, add half a glass of sour cream, a tablespoon of flour, dried parsley, lightly salt, add a little water. Then place the fried navaga tightly on the vegetables, and the remaining vegetables on top. Cover with a lid, bring to a boil and simmer until tender over low heat.

Dried navaga (express method)

We wash the fish and gut it. Let's prepare the brine. You can check whether there is enough salt by dropping an egg into the solution. If the egg floats, there is enough salt. Place the fish in the brine and leave for 7-8 hours. Then soak the navaga in fresh water for two hours. We put the fish on paper, let it dry for a couple of hours and hang it up.

Dried navaga

This recipe is popular in Japan and Korea. The cut fish is washed and soaked for several hours in soy sauce. Afterwards, the navaga is washed and hung to dry.

Navaga under marinade

Cut the chopped navaga into small pieces. Salt, pepper, roll in flour, fry in vegetable oil, cool and add marinade. To prepare the marinade: cut the carrots into strips, the onion into rings, fry in vegetable oil for 10 minutes. Add tomato paste, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon to taste, cover with a lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Then add 9% vinegar, broth or water, boil, season with sugar, salt and cool. Pour the chilled marinade over the navaga.

Navaga cutlets

Pass the navaga fillet (without skin) through a meat grinder, mix with bread soaked in milk, add salt and pepper and pass through the meat grinder one or two more times. After this, add softened butter to the fish mixture and mix well. We form cutlets, roll them in breadcrumbs and put them in a frying pan to fry.

Navaga fried in dough

Prepare the dough. In a bowl, mix flour and salt with two tablespoons of vegetable oil, then dilute with warm water (1/2 cup) so that there are no lumps. Cut the fish fillet into pieces, add salt and pepper, sprinkle with herbs and pour over the juice of half a lemon. Add a spoonful of vegetable oil, mix and leave for 15-20 minutes. Dip the fish pieces into the dough and fry in hot vegetable oil in a pan.

Fish solyanka from navaga

Cut the navaga fillet into pieces. Finely chop the onion and lightly fry in a saucepan in vegetable or butter, add tomato paste and simmer for 5-6 minutes. Then put the fish, sliced pickles, chopped tomatoes, bay leaf, a little pepper into the pan and fill it all with hot fish broth. Salt and cook for 10-15 minutes.

And here you can watch the story of “Our Day” about Sakhalin vakhna and dishes made from it

In a frying pan in egg-flour batter

One of the simple, quick ways to cook navaga is to simply fry it. To get tasty fish, it is advisable to use batter. This way it turns out juicy and rosy in appearance. Recipe for navaga in a frying pan, what you need:

carcasses – 1 kg;
wheat flour (premium grade) – 100 gr.;
eggs – 5 pcs.;
sunflower oil;
salt, pepper or fish seasonings.

Pre-prepare the fish (10 minutes) as mentioned earlier.
We wash, dry, cut and cut. Let's start cooking (30 min):

take a deep dish;
break 5 eggs there;
using a whisk, beat them until foam forms;
add sifted flour, salt, pepper (seasoning for fish) and mix well again;
heat the frying pan;
pour oil;
dip pieces of navaga in batter and send to fry;
fry over medium heat on both sides until golden brown.

Important! Navaga can be eaten both cold and hot. It should be stored exclusively in the refrigerator, but no more than 3 days!

Cutting rules

The first thing that all chefs advise you to do when cutting fish is to remove the gills from the head. Navaga is no exception. Then the lower jaw should be removed and a small incision should be made along the back. To make removing the skin from fish easier and more convenient, experienced chefs recommend salting your hands before doing this. Just take a pinch of coarse salt and rub your hands with it as if you were washing them with soap. Now the skin from the navaga will be removed easily and without unnecessary problems. The skin is removed from the head, pulling towards the tail.

Then the insides are removed (the eggs can be left inside the fish), and all fins are trimmed. The final stage is a good quality shower under running water. Even if particles of entrails remain in the abdominal cavity, the water will wash everything away and the fish will be clean, without unnecessary odors or unpleasant tastes.

Cooking process

Navaga stewed with onions and carrots is prepared in the oven. The first stage of preparation is to cut the fish (as described above). Many housewives get rid of the head and tail in this recipe. But you don’t have to do this. If the fish is large, then it can even be cut into two parts.

The next stage is preparing the vegetables. The onions are cut into large half rings, and the carrots are grated on a coarse grater. We remember that the more vegetables you use for the recipe, the tastier and juicier the fish will be.

Salt the fish, add your favorite spices and a little ground red pepper. Navaga stewed with onions and carrots is a very popular recipe, but each housewife adds her own twist to it. Some people add spices, others add less carrots but more onions. And some people add a lot of fresh herbs. There are many variations.

The next step is to roll the fish in a small amount of flour. Place in a frying pan seasoned with vegetable oil. Fry on both sides to get a golden brown crust.

While the fish is frying, you should prepare a baking sheet. We also pour vegetable oil on it (two tablespoons), scatter the chopped vegetables evenly and put the fried fish on top. Stewed navaga with onions and carrots takes fifteen minutes and is baked. The oven is preheated to 180 degrees.

Multicooker recipes

Navaga fish can also be cooked in a slow cooker. Recipes with photos on this site will demonstrate how to properly lay out the layers, what spices to add, and how to decorate the final dish.

A multi-cooker is found in many kitchens; it makes life much easier for housewives. You can use it to stew, fry, bake. It repeats most recipes that are used using the oven.

If you are wondering how navaga is prepared, multicooker recipes may contain eggs, turmeric, a mixture of peppers and oil. This combination of products will make the meat tasty and aromatic, and the dish itself will be dietary.

First, the carcass must be cleaned and gutted. After this, it is cut into pieces, which are placed in a multi-cooker bowl. Navaga is sprinkled with salt, pepper and turmeric. Before placing them in the slow cooker, roll them in flour.

In the Fry mode, the device heats up well and the fish is fried on both sides. After this, it is transferred to the Quenching position. To do this, pour the navaga with eggs and spices. Cooking time is 15 minutes.

To make tasty and beautiful navaga fish, recipes with photos on the website show ways of decorating. To do this, place a piece on a plate along with an egg. Place a ring of lemon and parsley next to it.

Navaga is a low-calorie protein food, which already gives the right to consider it healthy. 100 g of this fish contains:

68.5 kcal;
15.1 g protein;
0.9 g fat;
0 g carbohydrates.

Navaga can be classified as a dietary food, which is useful for those who maintain their figure, as well as those who are on a diet for medical reasons. In addition, there are other beneficial properties - an abundance of vitamins and minerals. The composition of navaga includes:

vitamins - PP, B2, B1;
minerals - nickel, molybdenum, fluorine, chromium, zinc, iron, sulfur, chlorine, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, iodine.

The mineral composition is especially impressive. Among this abundance, the leaders are: iodine (and this is natural - sea fish), potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine. Among the vitamins, PP and B1 are the leaders.

In the photo is the Far Eastern navaga or Vakhnya, living in the North Pacific Ocean

Navaga stewed with vegetables in tomato sauce

This recipe is just as simple and easy to prepare as the first. There are just a little more aromatic notes and cooking nuances here. For cooking, professional chefs recommend using only high-quality tomato paste. It is better if it is homemade thick tomato juice. Navaga cooks very quickly in the oven, so the recipe can be used as a key recipe for preparing a festive table.

Calorie content

The calorie content of navaga, like other fish, varies depending on the cooking method.

Navaga	Squirrels	Fats	Carbohydrates	Calories
Fried	16,4	5,7	3,7	133,9
Boiled	15,8	1	0	80,4
Out of the oven	16,0	0,9	0	73,0
For a couple	16,1	1	0	73
Stewed	12,5	1,6	1,3	69,2
Fresh	16,1	1,0	0	73
Pickled	12,2	6,6	9,2	136,5

How to cook

This dish is prepared according to the same principle as navaga stewed with onions and carrots. First, we clean the fish, get rid of the entrails, head, and tail. Divide the carcass into portions. Add salt, pepper and spices with pinches. Dip in flour and fry in vegetable oil.

In a separate frying pan, fry the chopped garlic. Then add chopped onions and grated carrots to it. After frying, combine the ingredients. It is better to bake fish not on a baking sheet, but in a deep frying pan with high sides. Pour in tomato paste (juice) and add a sprig of rosemary. The oven is heated to 180 degrees. Extinguishing time is twenty minutes. The total cooking time is 30 minutes.

Nutritional and energy value:

Ready meals
kcal 2383.6 kcal	proteins 159.2 g	fat 103.2 g	carbohydrates 179.8 g
Portions
kcal 595.9 kcal	proteins 39.8 g	fat 25.8 g	carbohydrates 45 g
100 g dish
kcal 166.7 kcal	proteins 11.1 g	fat 7.2 g	carbohydrates 12.6 g

Cutting rules

Cooking process

The next step is preparing the vegetables. The onions are cut into large half rings, and the carrots are grated on a coarse grater. We remember that the more vegetables you use for the recipe, the tastier and juicier the fish will be.

The next step is to roll the fish in a small amount of flour. Place in a frying pan seasoned with vegetable oil. Fry on both sides to get a golden brown crust.

With potatoes

Cooking time is half an hour.

Calorie content – 108 kcal, of which proteins – 11 g, fats – 3 g, carbohydrates – 8.7 g.

Number of servings – 3.

And this recipe for navaga in the oven can be called a very quick dinner option for a large family. There is no need to think about a side dish; all you need to do is stew the fish and potatoes.

You will need:

one navaga;
potatoes – 3-4 pcs.;
sour cream - half a jar;
salt, pepper, spices - to taste.

Thaw the seafood, gut it and cut it into several pieces. Place on a baking sheet, add salt and spices. Wash the potatoes thoroughly and cut into small slices. Season with salt and pepper and add to the fish.

If you don’t have sour cream on hand, you can replace it with mayonnaise. This will not spoil the dish, but will make it more nutritious.

To get a crispy crust, pour sour cream over everything and bake for half an hour. And you can treat your guests to a delicious dish made from the most ordinary and affordable products.

Navaga stewed with vegetables in tomato sauce

Why should you choose navaga?

Navaga has more tender meat. It does not have a pronounced odor. The high content of vitamin PP in fish has a positive effect on the physical condition of the body and has a beneficial effect on mental activity.

This type of fish belongs to the category, but it contains fatty acids, with the help of which cholesterol can be neutralized. Navaga is especially tasty when cooked in the oven with vegetables such as potatoes, zucchini or cauliflower.

How to cook

Navaga cutlets

Cutlets from this northern fish are very tasty, healthy and nutritious and allow you to diversify your diet.

The recipe is simple.

What ingredients will you need?

To prepare fish balls from navaga, take the following products:

Product	Quantity
cod fish	1 kg
white bread (bun) or loaf	100 g
milk	160 ml
breadcrumbs	100-150 g
eggs	1-2 pcs.
onion	1 PC.
sugar	0.5 tsp
spices	taste
vegetable oil	10-15 ml

Step-by-step cooking process

How to prepare cutlets from navaga:

The fish should be washed, cleaned and filleted, removing the bones. The prepared fish meat is minced in a meat grinder.
The peeled onion is also passed through a meat grinder along with the fish fillet.
The bread is soaked in water, then kneaded with a masher until a homogeneous mass is formed (there should not be too much water).
In a deep saucepan, combine minced fish, raw eggs, prepared bread, add spices (salt, pepper) and sugar.
Form medium-sized balls from the resulting mass, roll each of them in breadcrumbs and fry on both sides in a hot frying pan in oil.

Rules for serving dishes, decoration

Nourishing and juicy cutlets made from navaga are suitable for serving both for dinner and lunch along with potatoes, rice or buckwheat porridge, or boiled lentils. Before serving, sprinkle the side dish and cutlets with finely chopped herbs.

Navaga stewed with onions and carrots in the oven. Simple recipes

In most cases, we can say about fish that if you don’t like it, then you simply don’t know how to cook. Or no one has yet treated you to finger-licking fish. After all, if you know how to deliciously cook navaga or other sea fish, you can please even the most picky gourmet. It's just a matter of skill, selection of products and proper presentation. And we invite you to consider in detail each of these parameters using the example of navaga. We will try to deliciously prepare navaga in several different ways, and you will choose what seems most successful to you. Do you agree? Then let's begin.

Navaga: benefits, composition, features. How to cook navaga fish

Navaga is a fish from the cod family, that is, low-fat and low-calorie. 100 grams of navaga contain only 75 kcal, of which only 1% comes from fats. And this, of course, is healthy fish oil, found mainly in fish liver and including essential polyunsaturated fatty acids. In addition to vitamin F, navaga supplies the human body with fat-soluble B vitamins, vitamin A, E, D, as well as iodine and selenium, necessary for normal metabolism, and fat metabolism in particular.

At the same time, navaga is also a very tasty fish. Its dense meat has no small bones, which is very convenient for both cooking and eating. Therefore, healthy and non-bony navaga is often used in children's and dietary nutrition. As a traditional product of Russian cuisine, navaga can be prepared in many different ways:

Navaga, frozen for storage and transportation, does not lose its valuable properties.
Fried navaga.
Boiled navaga in fish soup and cabbage soup.
Dried, smoked and dried navaga.
Stewed navaga, with vegetables and cereal side dishes.

Smoked navaga recipe

If you have a smoking apparatus, it is very easy to prepare smoked navaga at home.

The recipe is simple.

What ingredients will you need?

To prepare a smoked product you will need:

navaga -1 kg;
coarse salt - 1 pack;
spices (to taste).

Step-by-step cooking process

Prepare smoked navaga like this:

The navaga is washed and all excess is removed from the inside. The head can be removed, or not, but there is no need to clean the carcasses of scales, this way the fish will be smoked better and will not be dry.
Prepared carcasses are generously sprinkled with salt and fish seasoning. You can add thyme, basil and a mixture of 5 peppers at your discretion. The fish stuffed with spices is left to marinate in a deep bowl for 8-10 hours.
After the time has passed, the navaga is poured with cold water and allowed to soak for about 30 minutes.
Depending on the type of smokehouse, the fish is placed on a grate or hung and cooked for about 30 minutes. Afterwards, the smokehouse is turned off and the navaga is left in it until it cools completely.

Rules for serving dishes, decoration

Smoked navaga is ideal as a snack for chilled beer or kvass. To serve to guests, the fish can be transferred to a large platter and garnished with a few sprigs of parsley, olives and salted peanuts.

How to cook navaga in sour cream with onions and carrots

A small lyrical digression: a distinction is made between northern and Far Eastern navaga. The Far Eastern navaga is larger, but the northern navaga is a small fish, whose weight rarely exceeds half a kilogram. I tell you how to cook northern navaga. Although this is not particularly important: these two types of navaga taste absolutely the same.

Note: I recently posted a video on how to cook navaga, which I think would be a good addition to the article. The process is slightly different from what is described here, but not very fundamentally. So, look, compare, and choose the best option for yourself.

Ingredients needed to prepare navaga:

• Gutted navaga, without heads – 2 kg;

• Large onions – 4 pcs.;

• Sour cream – 0.5 cups;

• Salt, ground black pepper, dried parsley - to taste.

How to boil navaga so that it turns out delicious

Navaga, the recipes for which are universal, is also tasty boiled. However, boiled navaga is the most allergenic, so for children and adults prone to allergic manifestations, it is still better to stew, fry or bake it.

Knowing some cooking tricks, even boiled fish can be made especially aromatic and tasty.

What ingredients will you need?

To prepare the dish you need:

navaga fish – 800-900 g;
onions – 1-2 pcs.;
bay leaf – 3-4 pcs.;
peppercorns – 5-6 pcs.;
celery and parsley root;
sunflower oil.

Step-by-step cooking process

Prepare boiled navaga as follows:

The fish is prepared before cooking as usual - washed, trimmed off the fins and head, and removed the giblets. After pre-treatment, they are divided into small pieces.
The prepared pieces are transferred to a saucepan, poured with cold water and brought to a boil over low heat, after which the water is drained and the fish is left to lie down.
Take 2 liters of water into a saucepan and add seasonings and spices - parsley and celery roots, bay leaf, allspice, salt. After the water boils, boil the broth for 10-12 minutes. over low heat.
After this time, add navaga simmered in water to the broth, add sunflower oil, peeled onions, finely chopped parsley and dill. Cook for another 15 minutes.
After turning it off, let the fish stay in the broth for another 6-8 minutes, after which it is removed with a slotted spoon and transferred to a plate.
The resulting broth is filtered. It can be used to make soup.

Rules for serving dishes, decoration

Boiled navaga goes well with baked mixed vegetables of pumpkin, zucchini, potatoes, carrots and tomatoes, decorated with finely chopped herbs.

You can also garnish the fish with mashed potatoes, lentils, buckwheat or pasta.