I’m cooking a modest dish today – sardines with misua noodles soup. It’s actually mackerel in natural oil (Hekkaido brand); but let me refer to it as a sardine recipe. It’s a Filipino recipe that is so easy to do. Not only that, it easily fits the budget, too.
Usually, canned sardines are sautéed with garlic and onions and that’s it. It makes a lot of sense, too; especially when in a hurry. That in its own makes a tasty dish. Adding misua noodles however, to canned sardines makes the dish more of a soup.
It may be enjoyed with another dish (like fried fish or pork); or may be eaten on its own. Some add gourd (patola) in to this sardines soup which makes it a healthier dish all in all. I prefer the white kind or that in natural oil when turning canned sardines into a soup. That is why I use the Hekkaido brand. But you can use the ones in tomato sauce, if that’s what’s available at home.
For this post, I am sharing with you how I cook sardines with misua. It’s my quick ‘go to’ recipe for a cheap and hearty soup.
Ingredients:
-Canned sardines, 1 can
-Garlic, 3-5 cloves chopped
-Onions, 1 whole chopped
-Tomato, 1 whole chopped
-Misua noodles, 5-10g
-Cooking oil, ½ tbsp.
-Fish sauce, 2 tsp
-Water, ½ cup
-Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Pour cooking oil in a heated pan.
2. Saute the garlic under medium heat.
3. When the garlic turns sticky and golden, add the onions.
4. When the onions turn sweaty, put in the tomatoes.
5. Put the heat to low.
6. Season with fish sauce. And stir well.
For this very humble dish, I want to really extract the juices and essence of the tomatoes. It will give the soup texture and a bit of sweetness. When the tomatoes are all nearly wilted, I proceed to the next step.
7. Add the canned sardines.
8. Break the fish into tiny pieces and stir well.
9. When the dish comes to a boil, add the water.
10. Put the misua noodles. Mix well.
11. Season the sardine soup with salt and pepper.
You may notice that I used a very small amount of misua in my sardine soup. It’s because I want my dish to be just thick enough. Based on past experiences, I know that the misua noodles can easily thicken a dish. Also, I am avoiding my sardine soup to be pasty. So I scoured just the loose noodles in its container instead of getting one whole sheet. If you are cooking say, 2 cans of sardines, just add more water (1 cup to 1 ½ cups) and add more misua.
That’s it. We normally eat sardines with misua with hot steamy rice. But it is also enjoyable with bread as a snack.
Remember me when you cook.
