I love sardines – fresh ones and even those canned ones in tomato sauce. I love the latter in sandwiches, preferably with slices of tomato…or in baked rolls or puffs. My daughter is not a fan as she does not fancy the idea of eating the bones – something that we thought was such a novelty when we were kids like it was some kind of a major achievement and we were so amused by it.
Ever since I was small, my mother would cook the canned sardines with sliced Bombay onions, adding a little bit more tomato sauce to enhance the flavour. To this day, I still do the same except that I may add some sliced chillies for that extra kick. Once I even used the sardines to cook fish curry using the Yeo’s canned curry gravy, adding vegetables like ladies fingers and brinjal to it…and I remember how I enjoyed that.
I do not mind the Ayam Brand ones but my favourite is still the Marina Brand. However, my missus bought this the other day…
…and claimed that the mackerel tasted better than sardines. I did not find any difference between the two – I like them both.
In fact, it was only after I got married that I started eating sardines without cooking them. Instead of cooking the sardines, my missus would cut a few shallots and chillies and spread the slices all over the fish in a plate and after that, she would cut some calamansi lime and squeeze them over everything in the plate. I had a post on this a long long time ago but the other day, I opened the can of mackerel in tomato sauce and did the same…
The lime would drown out the canned smell of the fish a little bit and the sour taste plus that of the raw shallots and the spiciness of the chillies go a long way to enhance the enjoyment of the dish.
Actually, if you use that to make sandwiches, they will taste great as well…but do make sure you do not talk to anybody at a very close range after you have eaten that. LOL!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 