Categories: Salads

Mimosa (Layered Fish Salad)

Mimosa, as a fish layered salad, is very popular in all countries of ex-USSR. As well as Herring Under Fur Coat and Salad Olivier, Salad Mimosa finds its place on the table for big holiday celebrations, such as New Year, Christmas, birthdays and others.

It is easy and fun to cook, and due to the layered structure of the salad it should be prepared several hours in advance before serving to allow layers to soak. So the good idea would be to assemble the salad a night before you are going to put it on the table.

By the way this salad name – Mimosa – comes from the bright yellow color and a texture of its last layer which looks very similar to the yellow blossoms of the plant called “mimosa” in Russia.

Ingredients:

  • 9-12 oz of canned fish (the original recipe features sardines cooked in oil, which I couldn’t find here, so I used tuna chunks instead)
  • 5 eggs
  • Up to ½ cup of rice
  • 3-4 medium carrots
  • Bunch of green onion
  • Mayonnaise, about 2 cups
  • Ground black pepper
  • Salt to taste

How to prepare, step-by-step:

  1. Prepare ingredients: boil eggs (it is important to boil eggs until yolks are completely cooked through but not over cooked to get bright yellow color of the last layer); boil carrots for salad, skin them and cool them down till room temperature; boil rice for salad and cool it till room temperature as well; drain liquid from the fish, fish bones if it got some and mash fish with a fork; rinse and clean green onion:
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 1
  2. Take a salad bowl with straight sides (or you may use a baking pan like I did), arrange layer of rice about 1.5” thick on the bottom of it and put a bit of mayonnaise on top (depends of the size of the bowl you may use only part of the boiled rice):
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 2
  3. Arrange an even layer of fish on the top and again put a bit of mayonnaise on top:
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 3
  4. Cover fish with an layer of finely chopped green onions, season with ground black pepper and of course a bit of mayonnaise (a bit more than on the photo below 🙂 ):
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 4
  5. Peel all boiled eggs and separate whites from yolks, for that: cut an egg white in a circular motion (just an white, don’t cut the whole egg through):
    Cut egg white in circular motion
    Carefully start opening the egg:
    Carefully open the egg
    Open the egg in halves, remove the half which has no yolk in it:
    Separate egg halves
    Separate yolk and white for all eggs:
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 5
  6. Grate egg whites on small slots, arrange them into even layer, season with salt and add a bit of mayonnaise:
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 6
  7. Grate boiled carrots on large slots:
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 7
  8. Make the carrot layer even and press it a bit down with your hands:
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 8
  9. Cover with a thin layer of mayonnaise (spread it with a fork, spoon or icing spatula):
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 9
  10. Now it is turn for egg yolks: grate them all on small slots of the grater (I usually grate over the salad it self, but if you want to grate into separate bowl first it is also fine, just make sure the bowl you are using if completely dry):
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 10
  11. Carefully make the egg yolks layer even: you need to make sure yolks don’t get mixed with mayo while you are doing so, I believe it is easier to do with hands:
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 11
  12. Cover pan with salad with food wrap and put it to the fridge for several hours so layers have enough time to soak through with mayonnaise before you server the salad:
    Mimosa Salad Recipe: Step 12
  13. Usually this salad is served in the salad bowl it is prepared in (so everybody need to “scoop” a bit of it to his plate). However I did my best to cut a piece of Salad Mimosa out of a pan for this photo so I can show you the layered nature of it:
    Mimosa Salad
Enjoy!

View Comments

  • Back home we ALWAYS used potatoes instead of rice....never tryed it with rice... I use regular round onion, and green onion only put on the top of the last layer of yolks for garnish....It is my favorite salad! LOVE IT!

    • Potatoes are an option too, but with rice it is a bit lighter... Regular onions work as well, I am just in love with green ones :)

  • I really have to try this for my next gathering of friends, and see how they like it. I personally never had this dish before. Someone served something similar, but it was a hot dish of herrings with veggies and the top layer was mashed potatoes. My husband liked it, but I am not a big fan of herrings, yet topped with hot mashed potatoes....so I had a taste, but could call it a meal.

  • I like tuna fish, not so much sardines, and all the other ingredients sound like a wonderful addition to this dish. Lots of mayo......but maybe if I would mix the mayo with sour cream or Greek yogurt, it might still work? What do you think? Also, do you season each layer with salt and pepper, of just the fish?
    It seems that the egg whites might require some additional flavor, no?
    Thanks.

    • I wouldn't put sour cream here. I season onions with pepper and egg whites with salt, usually it is enough, but that is to taste - feel free to add more.

  • Wow !
    Never tried something like that.
    Great recipe i almost thought it was a cake just from looking at the pic.
    It looks so lovely and tasty,Thanks :-)

    • You are welcome, your site looks interesting as well, will take some time to read thru it after work :)