Years ago, before I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy and transitioned to a low-FODMAP diet free of wheat and garlic (due to IBS), I used to love slathering a toasted garlic bagel with creamy whitefish salad. In recent times, I’ve been craving whitefish salad but I knew I couldn’t use dairy and didn’t want to use mayonnaise. Thankfully, there are a number of delicious plant-based yogurts available; I used my favorite plain unsweetened cashewgurt from Forager Project for this recipe, but you could easily use an almond, soy, or coconut-based option. I served this with toasted slices of homemade Oats-n-Seeds Bread (no gluten or dairy; I omitted the whey powder and Stevia from the original recipe) and it was a success!
Thanks to Tori Avery for sharing the basics of preparing whitefish salad from a whole smoked fish.
Whitefish Salad (Dairy-Free)
Ingredients
- 2 lb whole smoked whitefish
- 2/3 cup non-dairy yogurt plain, unsweetened
- 2 tbsp fresh dill minced
- 2 tbsp green onion or chives minced
- 1 lemon freshly squeezed
- Kosher salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup celery minced (optional)
Instructions
- Purchase a whole smoked whitefish (approx. 2 lbs.) from your local grocer. If you can't find a whole fish, you can purchase fillets instead. If you purchase fillets, simply remove the skin and then skip to step 4.
- I followed these instructions to remove the meat from the bones of my whole whitefish: peel the skin from the whitefish; it should come off easily.
- On each side of the fish, you will see a center line running from tail to gill. Using a fork, pull the meat outward from that center line, following the diagonal grain of the meat; this will help you avoid the tiny bones that can get caught in the meat.
- Place the meat in a pile beside the fish. Flake it and put the small pieces into a mixing bowl, checking for bones with your fingers (discard any bones you find).
- Shred the meat even further with a fork and your fingers. Add your non-dairy yogurt, dill, green onion or chives, and celery (optional) to the fish and blend. Season with Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and fresh lemon juice to taste.
- Serve with toast or a bagel with fresh tomato slices; atop a green salad; or stuffed in a fresh bell pepper. Enjoy!