Fruity Herring

Over the years my mother's contributions to Christmas and other celebrations' table were new herring salad recipes. Well, its not really a salad, more like appetizer, cocktail or whatever you want to call it; it is eaten cold, with a piece of a dark bread, quite traditional around those parts, especially in the winter season.
Here I usually get my herring filet mildly marinated from a local fish source, however if it is seriously salted or marinated, you might need to soak it first for about half an hour to get the saltines or overkill vinegar out. There are some taste gains in buying a big fat herring which hasn't been fileted for you, but it is quite a bit of work to get the bones out, and you might want to look first for some tips how to do it properly. Either way, ready filet normally works just fine.

Need
3 average size herring filets (cleaned, mildly marinaded or salted)
2 normal size carrots
2 normal size onions
1 handful of dried plums
1 handful of dried apples
1 handful of raisins
1 table spoon of ketchup
4 spoons of sunflower oil
a pinch of salt and black peppers

Put plums, apples and raisins into a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Leave them to soak for about 15 min.
Cut the herring into bite size pieces.
Grate the carrots on a vegetable rasp.
Cut the onions into small pieces.
Add oil to the frying pan and start frying carrots. Add salt and pepper, and when carrots start softening up, add onion. Fry until ready (aka onion is golden, carrot soft), then add ketchup and put in a mixing bowl to cool off.
Dry the soaking fruits and cut the plums and the apples into the small pieces. Add to the carrot mix, together with the raisins.
If the carrot mix is cooled off (only warm to the touch), add herring. It is important not to do it too soon, because if herring is mixed with the hot oil and veggies, it will start cooking and can taste a bit weird. Mix it and serve cold.