Mackerel has always been one of my favorite fish, and this is a riff on the classic Norwegian fried mackerel in sour cream with cabbage. This time I serve it in a Norwegian potetkake, as mackerel tacos – proper NorMex!
Those who know me know that I eat tacos all day, every day, without fault; it’s how I support my strength and HIIT training, and they are the ideal medium for protein forward goodness, such as this mackerel dish, or the salmon rillette here:
Mind you, it’s not your typical Mexican or TexMex tacos most of the time, cause I use potetkaker as tortillas instead of wheat or corn tortillas.
Potetkaker is the same as Lomper, we just call it different tings in different parts of Norway. They are a kind of Lefse, but not a Potetlefse. Lefse is the umbrella term for Norwegian flatbreads, but we also have Flatbrød, which is a kind of flatbread, but it’s not the same as Lefse, because whereas Lefse is soft and pliable, Flatbrød is a thin, crisp wafer. Clear as mud?
They can best be described as a super soft flat bread made with mashed potatoes, a bit of flour, and salt. In my own recipe I put a bit of sour cream in the dough too for a richer taste. If you can’t get potetkaker or any other kind of lefse, just use wheat or corn tortillas instead!
If you’re lucky enough to get a mackerel with roe in the spring, fry that up too as you rest the fish!
Since this is a spring and summer dish, I’ll be using young cabbage, called nykål, or “new cabbage” in Norwegian. Small hispi/pointed cabbage are a very good alternative. What you don’t want are those huge, robust overwintered white cabbages; they are way too coarse for this.
Nutritional info with 3 tacos per serving:
- 780 kcal
- 55 g protein
- 35 g fat
- 90 g carbs
- 6 g fibre
- GI: Moderate
At around 780 kcal for three of these tacos, this is a nicely balanced meal; high in protein to support muscle repair, moderate in fat (mostly healthy omega-3s from the mackerel), and a controlled carb load from the potetkaker and cabbage slaw. The decent fibre (6 g) and low–moderate GI keep blood sugar steady. Perfect as an everyday meal, even on less active days – and it feels sinful enough for a proper weekend feast!
Pro tip: Batch cook everything and have as delicious cold lunch for days on end!
Ingredients
Mackerel
- 800 g mackerel fillets, skin on
- Fine sea salt
- 1 tsp oil for frying
- Knob butter for basting
Cabbage
- 2 small new cabbage or hispi cabbage
- 1 tbsp fine sea salt
Dressing
- 150 g 2 % Skyr or Greek yoghurt
- 2 jalapeños
- 20 g fresh dill
- 1 lemon, all the zest, 1/4 juice
- pinch salt
Method sumary
- Make the dressing, let sit 30+ minutes
- Shred and salt cabbage, let sit 30+ minutes, squeeze and mix with dressing.
- Salt mackerel 10 min before cooking.
- Pat dry, sear skin-side down until crisp, baste with butter, rest 5 min.
- Slice fish and serve in potetkake with cabbage, dressing & dill.
Method details
Start by shredding then salting the cabbage for minimum 30 minutes, or a day ahead if that suits your schedule; rub the cabbage with salt and let osmosis do its thing. It’ll soften it somewhat, and also drive out some compounds that are hard to digest for some; Lumi gets severe cramps from raw cabbage, but this is no problem at all!
While the cabbage salts, make the dressing by blitzing together the jalapeños, dill, yoghurt or Skyr, lemon zest, juice, and a pinch of salt. Use a stick blender until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust. Want more kick? Add another pepper. Want less? Deseed the peppers before blending. Too thin? Add 1/4 tsp or so xanthan gum while blending.
And if you’re a real chili whore, like me, then feel free to spike it with some chipotle flakes after blending, and let that sit and infuse for several hours, or more; the smokiness pairs exceedingly well with the seared skin…
When the cabbage is done salting, squeeze out as much moisture as possible, then mix with 1/2 the dressing. Add more if it looks a bit dry, but you don’t want this swimming in dressing, so don’t drown it like a vengeful god; use any left overs as an optional drizzle when serving so people can adjust heat to their preference.
Sprinkle the mackerel with a pinch of fine sea salt 10 minutes before frying. This will firm up the fish and make it much juicier! When ready to fry, pat the fish completely dry, then sear on a smoking hot pan in a bit of oil, skin side down, until the skin is crisp and golden. Turn off the heat, add the butter, and gently baste the uncooked meat side with the bubbling hot butter for a minute until the meat turns pinkish-white.
Set the fish aside to rest, skin side up, for 5 minutes before slicing into serving pieces.
Serve in a tortilla of your choice, with a generous helping of cabbage, a few pieces of fish, maybe a drizzle of dressing, and a few sprigs of dill. Properly awesome washed down with a semi dry sparkling hard cider, or a NEIPA.
Skål!
