Selyodka pod Shuboy

Ingredients

• 300 g salt-cured herring fillets
• 4 medium potatoes (about 500 g)
• 2 medium carrots (about 200 g)
• 2 medium beetroots (about 400 g)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 eggs
• 300 g mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• black pepper

Before you cook

• Rinse the herring fillets, pat them dry and pull out any stray bones.
• Cut the herring into 1 cm dice.
• Finely chop the onion.
• Stir the vinegar and sugar through the chopped onion and leave it to soften for 10 minutes.

Steps

1. Put the unpeeled potatoes, carrots and beetroots into a large pan and cover them with cold water.
2. Bring the pan to the boil and cook the vegetables until a knife slides in easily, about 25 minutes for the potatoes and carrots and 45 for the beetroots.
3. Lift each vegetable out as it is done and leave them all to cool completely.
4. Boil the eggs in a separate pan for 9 minutes, then cool them under cold running water.
5. Peel all the vegetables and the eggs.
6. Grate the potatoes, carrots, beetroots and eggs into four separate bowls on the coarse side of a box grater.
7. Spread the diced herring across the base of a 20 by 20 cm glass dish.
8. Drain the vinegared onion and scatter it over the herring.
9. Cover with the grated potato, grind over some pepper and spread a third of the mayonnaise on top.
10. Add the grated carrot and another third of the mayonnaise.
11. Add the grated egg and press the layer down gently with the back of a spoon.
12. Finish with the grated beetroot and seal the whole surface with the last of the mayonnaise.
13. Cover the dish and chill it for at least 4 hours, so the layers set and the colour bleeds upward.
14. Cut it into squares and serve cold.