black tarama dipblack tarama dipblack tarama dipblack tarama dip

Tarama fish roe dip is usually beige or pale pink in colour when home-made or bright pink when industrially-made. The eggs that are traditionally used are either codfish or mullet fish but obviously these are much harder (and expensive) to find and buy than lumpfish eggs, whether red or black, which readily available in 100 gram jars at any supermarket. I could not resist the urge to use black lumpfish eggs to make my latest tarama, simply out of curiosity and to see and compare the taste and overall aspect. I personally love it, yeah I know, we're not used to eating greyish-black foods but WOW what an effect ! Try this recipe with either red or black fish eggs and i'll let you decide which you prefer… :)

black tarama dip

04.05.2015

makes 2 bowls

ingredients

  • 200 grams white bread (day-old and with crusts removed)
  • 100 grams (1/2 cup) black lumpfish eggs
  • 1 tbsp grated green onion or shallot
  • 125 ml (1/2cup) olive oil
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice and some grated zest
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp salt (to taste) 

instructions

  • trim crusts from bread slices and soak in a bowl of cold water for 2 minutes then quickly remove from water and squeeze the water out
  • place lumpfish eggs, lemon juice, grated onion, black and white pepper and bread in a food processor and pulse several times
  • slowly add oil and pulse several times while adding the rest of the olive oil until creamy, scrape the sides of the food processor if necessary
  • taste and adjust with more pepper, salt and lemon juice if necessary
  • if too liquid, feel free to add 1 tbsp of bread crumbs to absorb the extra moisture
  • place in refrigerator to firm up and serve with bread or breadsticks
  • the rest of the tarama dip can be refrigerated for several days