Perch Marinated with Onion and Carrot

Name: Perch Marinated with Onion and Carrot
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 4 h
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: Perch – 400 g. Flour – 1/2 cup Vegetable oil – 1/2 cup Carrot – 350 g. Onion – 3 pcs. Tomato paste – 2 tbsp. Vegetable broth – 1 cup Apple cider vinegar – 1 tbsp. Salt – to taste. Sugar – 1 tbsp. Bay leaf – 3 pcs. Ground black pepper – 1 pinch. Ground cloves – 1 pinch. Ground cinnamon – 1 pinch.

Published: 05.09.2026

Updated: 05.09.2026

🤤 Здорові рецепти щодня

Cooking time 4 hours Portions 4 servings

Fish in marinade is a dish that isn't eaten hot. Three to four hours in the fridge here isn't storage — it's part of the cooking: during that time the vegetable sauce works through the breading into the meat, and the fried pieces stop being fried pieces under a sauce.

Cloves and cinnamon in a fish marinade sound strange right up until you try it. A pinch of each for this amount of vegetables gives that warm note by which this dish is recognized, and without them the marinade turns into plain sour tomato.

River perch works here no worse than the sea fish the recipe was written for. There's one difference: river perch needs to be filleted, because its small bones aren't forgiven in a cold sauce — unlike in fried fish, where at least you can see them.

The vegetable marinade here gets cooked, while classic pike-perch hoe with vinegar does the same job with raw vinegar instead. For a hot dish from the same fish family, there's pike-perch baked in the oven with vegetables.

Caloric content: 115kcal

Ingredients

Perch – 400 g.
Flour – 1/2 cup
Vegetable oil – 1/2 cup
Carrot – 350 g.
Onion – 3 pcs.
Tomato paste – 2 tbsp.
Vegetable broth – 1 cup
Apple cider vinegar – 1 tbsp.
Salt – to taste.
Sugar – 1 tbsp.
Bay leaf – 3 pcs.
Ground black pepper – 1 pinch.
Ground cloves – 1 pinch.
Ground cinnamon – 1 pinch.

Prepare the fish

Clean the perch of scales, fins, and innards, leaving only the fillet. Rinse it, pat dry with paper towels, cut into medium pieces, and rub with salt and black pepper.

Fry

Coat the pieces in sifted flour and fry them on all sides in a hot pan with vegetable oil.

Prepare the vegetables

Peel the onion and carrot, grate them coarsely, and fry in another pan with vegetable oil for about ten minutes.

Simmer the marinade

Add the tomato paste, a pinch of cloves, a pinch of cinnamon, and the bay leaf to the vegetables. Simmer for twenty minutes, stirring. Pour in the vinegar and broth, bring to a boil, add salt and sugar, and remove from the heat to cool.

Pour it over and chill

Arrange the perch on a plate, cover with the cooled vegetable sauce, and place in the fridge for three to four hours.

Notes

You need spoonfuls of tomato paste, not a cupful. The source uses an abbreviation that reads either as a tablespoon or as a cup. For four hundred grams of fish, use two tablespoons — a cupful would turn the dish into ketchup.
Three hours of cold isn't shortened. This isn't storage but maturing: the sauce needs to work through the breading into the fish.
Fillet the river perch. Small bones aren't visible in a cold sauce, and picking them out from under the marinade is awkward.
Add the cloves and cinnamon by the pinch. Two pinches already overpower everything else. This is a background note, not the flavor of the dish.
Cool the marinade before adding it. Hot marinade softens the breading, and the pieces will fall apart.

Questions and Answers

How long should the fish sit in the marinade?

Three to four hours in the fridge. This is part of the recipe, not storage for a finished dish.

How much tomato paste is needed?

Two tablespoons for four hundred grams of fish. The source's abbreviation is ambiguous between a tablespoon and a cup, and a full cup here would be too much.

Will river perch work?

Yes, but fillet it: small bones are awkward to pick out of a cold sauce.

Why cinnamon and cloves in the marinade?

They give the warm note by which this dish is recognized. Without them, what's left is plain sour tomato.

Recipe and step-by-step photos — kolizhanka.net.ua.