Simusimu wa Kukaanga
Crispy Fried Sardines
The cheapest, most nutritious thing on the whole slab, and arguably the best. Fried until the bones go crisp, sardines are eaten whole — which is where the calcium is.
Ingredients
- 1 kg sardines, gutted, heads on or off as you prefer
- 1 cup maize flour or plain flour
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder or 3 crushed cloves
- Juice of 2 limes
- Salt
- Oil for shallow frying
- Lime wedges and kachumbari to serve
Method
- Rinse the sardines and pat them properly dry. Wet fish will not crisp.
- Toss with lime juice, salt, garlic and half the chilli. Leave 10 minutes.
- Mix the flour with the turmeric and remaining chilli. Coat each fish, shaking off the excess.
- Heat 1 cm of oil until a pinch of flour sizzles immediately. Too cool and they soak up oil; too hot and they burn before the bones soften.
- Fry in batches, not crowded, 3–4 minutes a side until deep golden and crisp.
- Drain on paper. Salt while still hot. Eat with lime and kachumbari, bones and all.
Tips from the counter
- The bones should crunch. If they do not, the oil was not hot enough or they came out too soon.
- Do not crowd the pan — the temperature drops and you get soft, oily fish.
- Sardines are among the lowest-mercury fish in the sea because they are small and short-lived. Eat them often.
