Translated from Estonian “herring sandwich”, the Kiluvõileib is a traditional Estonian snack that originated in the 20th century.
It is an open-faced sandwich made with dark bread (leib) spread with munavõi (or egg butter) and topped with a sprat fillet, slices of hard or poached eggs, tomatoes, capers, cucumbers, mayonnaise, and so on.
The egg butter (in Finnish: munavoi, in Estonian: munavõi, in Norwegian: eggesmør) is a mixture of butter and chopped hard-boiled eggs.
In Estonia, egg butter and leib (dark rye bread) are traditionally included in the Easter Sunday meal.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2 slices
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Eastern European
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 slices black bread
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 1.5 tbsp butter
- 2 sprat fillets
- to taste salt
Steps
Prepare the egg butter by mixing the butter with the hard-boiled eggs (the ratio is 6 hard-boiled eggs: 200 g butter), add the salt.
Spread the egg butter onto the slices of black rye bread, top with the sprat fillet (if you like, it can be marinated in black pepper, garlic, coriander, bay leaf, salt, and sugar).
Add hard-boiled (or poached, if you prefer) egg and as much as you like (mayonnaise, cucumbers, scallions, capers, tomatoes).
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What other fish can be used instead of sprats?
Sprat is a small bluefish similar in size to a sardine.
It measures up to 6.7 inches (17 cm), has a fusiform and elongated body, but compressed at the sides and is covered with scales.
The back is blue and the sides are silver.
It can be confused with sardines, from which it is distinguished by its more rounded body shape, the serrated profile of the belly and the coloration which in sardines is more intense and darker.
Therefore, it can be replaced in the recipe by sardines or herring.
