← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean

Ingredients

• 425 g tin of sardines in tomato sauce
• 3 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp dried chilli paste (cili boh)
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 tsp Ginger, minced
• 1 tsp belacan, toasted and crumbled (optional)
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• 2 tsp Sugar
• ½ tsp Salt
• 80 ml Water
• 1 Red chilli, sliced (optional)
• ½ Lime, juiced (optional)

Method

1. Open the tin and lift out the sardines, keeping the tomato sauce. Split each fish and remove the spine if you like.
2. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat and fry half the onion with the garlic and ginger for 2 min until soft.
3. Add the chilli paste and belacan and fry for 4–5 min until dark red and fragrant.
4. Stir in the tomato sauce from the tin, the water, tamarind, sugar and salt and simmer for 2 min.
5. Add the sardines, the rest of the onion and the chilli and simmer gently for 3–4 min without stirring too much, so the fish stays in chunks. Finish with lime juice and serve with rice or bread.

Tips

• Adding half the onion at the end keeps a little crunch, the way mak cik makes it.
• Use any tinned mackerel or sardines; the ones in tomato sauce give the best gravy.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Nomadette Singaporean Malaysian Recipes