Sardine Chachchari

Sardine Chachchari makes a great meal with rice, quinoa and it can be savored by itself. This Sardine Chachari is nothing but a simple stir fry with canned sardine and it gets a wonderful makeover with simple Bengali spices, lots of bell peppers, onion, ginger, garlic, fresh hot chilies, tomatoes and potato into a very tasty fish dish in less than a half an hour. This super easy recipe truly brings out the best for sardine lovers. I add lots of fresh chilies, julienned ginger and garlic to balance out the strong fishy flavor. This is a delicious on the go sardine recipe.

We always stock up on dry food and canned goods for emergency. They are also convenient in a hurry to make something. I always keep canned sardine in oil on hand and once in awhile I make a few tasty dishes with that. My teen boy loves this preparation so much and savor it as snack; so I make 4-5 cans together(each can has 3 headless fishes) and warm it up saved portions. This dish is very inexpensive with fishy goodness and saves time as well. All you need is to saute veggies and add in fish at the end to get heated through. I use the olive oil from canned sardine but I don't use all of it to keep it less oily. 

Ingredients~

(US customary units)

15 sardine pieces from the 5 cans, drained

1 medium potato, cut into thin wedges

1 each big red green bell pepper, cut into julienne

1 big red onion,cut into julienne

2-3 tbsp julienned garlic

2-3 tbsp julienned ginger

1 big tomato, cut into wedges

6-8 fresh hot Thai chilies, slightly slit plus 2 chilies thinly sliced or as per taste

1/4 tsp crushed black pepper

1/2 salt or to taste

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

3-4 tbsp oil from the can

Method~
Heat oil in a large wide pan over medium high heat. Add the potato, and cook for a few minutes, then add the rest of the veggies along with ginger, garlic, and sliced chilies. Sprinkle salt, black pepper, turmeric and cook until just tender. Stir in the tomato wedges and cook for a few minutes further over high heat. Take out half of the veggies and lay sardines gently without breaking them, then top with remaining veggies and fresh chilies. Reduce heat to low and allow the fish to get heated through for 3-4 minutes. Let the fish absorb all the flavors from the veggies and spices. Serve with rice and a splash of lemon/lime juice or as is. Top with more chilies and julliened ginger.

Happy Cooking!