Momma's Sardine Curry

I took an interest in cooking almost 2 years ago when I just got tired of saying "No Aunty, I don't know how to cook." Many aunties, without fail, made a face and laughed "Aiyo, don't worry la, can buy food outside right?" Being true to my competitive nature I took it upon myself to learn how to cook. I started themed dinner night every Saturday with my closest friends. I roasted chicken, made hummus, tabouleh, sticky toffee pudding, bread and butter pudding and many other yummy dishes. I very quickly realised that cooking was not that difficult and just a matter of knowing when to add in your ingredients.

Now that my mom is back in town because of Nat's school holidays, she decided to teach me some Asian curry dishes to satisfy my Indian hubby's palate. After all isn't the way to a man's heart through his beer belly? 

So the menu for dinner tonight was going to be my Mother's sardine curry, Aunty Tossy's tahu (tofu) sambal and green chili pickle. And I am going to share with you, two out of the three recipes that have been in my family recipe book for years...to start the ball rolling...

Momma's Sardine Curry

One of the simplest and cheapest dishes you can make and feed an entire family. Almost every Malaysian woman will have their own version of their mother's sardine curry and this is mine...

What makes a sardine curry? Chili powder, meat (or fish) curry powder, onions, tomatoes, eggs (optional), tamarind juice, a cube of ikan bilis (anchovy) stock and of course, a few cans of sardines.

Mix 2 tablespoons of chili powder and a small packet of meat (or fish) curry powder and add some water creating a paste (as shown above).

Depending on whether you like eggs or not, you can boil eggs and slice them gently with a knife and plonk them into the curry. Slicing the eggs allows the eggs to soak up the curry a little...I learnt this trick from my mother-in-law.

Chop your onions and tomatoes as shown above. Heat up a wok, add some oil and saute the onions until they become soft. Then add in your chili & curry powder paste and add a little more water until you reach the consistency you like.

Add some tamarind paste (assam jawa) and make another paste with water. Add in the tamarind water and remember to sieve this as the tamarind paste has loads of seeds. After this step, plonk in the tomatoes and bring the curry to a slight simmer.

Please be careful when you open your sardine cans, the ring to my can broke, which made it extra hard for me to open it fully. Also, look at the mess I made...

After the curry turns a shade darker, add in a cube of Ikan Bilis (anchovy) stock and you are all set! 

Voila! Sardine Curry, just like how my momma makes it!