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Braised Sardines with simple ingredients of ginger, salt, black pepper, and chili powder are easy, yummy, and healthy. Garnish the fish with cilantro or green onion to add a contrast of color and enhanced flavor.
I am a big fan of fish and sardines included, knowing they offer superfood nutrients. I used to buy canned sardines, which both my younger son and I like. Then he was like – why not get the fish and cook ourselves? At that time, I didn’t see any places selling them. You can imagine my joy when I spot wildly caught whole sardines at my local fresh farm market.
I frequently buy them especially when they look very fresh. By the way, these superfood fish are surprisingly inexpensive hence making them budget-friendly too.
These sardines are sold as whole, not gutted or cleaned. But it is not a big deal to clean yourself. Just use a kitchen scissor to remove the fish head, open and remove the guts. Sardines do have some scales, but usually not too bad, and is relatively easy to remove them.
How to Make a Braised Sardines Easy & Yummy?
Weigh the cleaned headless sardines. For each pound, use 1/4 tsp salt, black pepper, and chili powder and blend to mix well. For the regular package, I usually ended up with about 1.5 lb of cleaned sardines, which translates into about 0.4 tsp of salt/black pepper/chili powder.
First, turn the heat to medium-high and heat the 14-inch non-stick pan for about 1 minute. Nowadays I use more of this 14-inch frying pan, which is perfect to pan-fry large amounts of food at the same time.
Then sprinkle about 2 tbsp oil evenly and add the thinly sliced ginger. Lay the fish flat on the pan, sprinkle the seasoning mixture lightly and evenly, and let it cook for about 2 minutes. Flip the fish and cook the other sides for 1 minute. Pour 1 cup of water around the edge of the pan, cover the pan with a lid, and cook for about 8 minutes, or till the water is almost disappearing.
Remove the lid, flip the fish carefully using a slotted turner, add the chopped cilantro, and turn off the heat.
All done! Enjoy naturally yummy braised sardines.
Braised Sardines {Easy Yummy Healthy Way}
Braised Sardines with simple ingredients of ginger, salt, black pepper, and chili powder are easy, yummy, and healthy. Garnish the fish with cilantro or green onion to add a contrast of color and enhanced flavor.
Ingredients
- one pack of whole sardines, about 10 sardines, close to 1.5 lb gross weight, result in about 1 lb cleaned headless sardines
- 1 tbsp cooking oil, such as avocado oil
- 1/4 tsp salt, such as Himalayan pink salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 chili powder
- a small piece of ginger, thinly sliced
- A few stems of cilantro, chopped
- 1 cup of water
Instructions
- Gut and clean the whole sardines. Use a kitchen scissor to remove the fish head, open and remove the guts. Sardines do have some scales, but usually not too bad, and is relatively easy to remove them.
- Set the cleaned sardines aside. Add the 1/2 tsp salt, black pepper, and chili powder to a small dish and mix well. Slice the ginger into thin pieces.
- Turn the heat to medium-high and heat the nonstick pan for 1 minute and then sprinkle 2 tbsp avocado oil evenly. Add the ginger slices and one by one lay the fish flat on the pan and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Flip the fish using a slotted turner and cook for about 1 minute. Then pour a cup of water around the edge of the pan, cover the lid and cook for about 8 minutes, or till the water is almost disappearing.
- Carefully flip the sardines an add the chopped cilantro.
- All done! Enjoy the easy yummy healthy braised sardines.
Notes
- Whole sardines are usually sold uncleaned in my neighborhood grocery store. Remember to weigh the gutted & cleaned sardines. The rule of thumb is for each pound clean fish, use 1/4 tsp salt/black pepper and chili powder.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 2.5 sardinesAmount Per Serving Calories 222Total Fat 12gSaturated Fat 0.4gUnsaturated Fat 11.6gSodium 241mgCarbohydrates 0.4gFiber 0.2gSugar 0gProtein 28g
Nutrition calculation is provided by"NutritionValue.org" to the best of my knowledge. Nevertheless, I use lots of homemade, all natural, unprocessed, unrefined raw & wholesome ingredients which are not always readily available in the referenced source. Therefore the calculation may not always be accurate.