Fried Sardines with Turmeric

With kaffir lime leaf salt – IKAN KUNING –

MALAYSIA / SINGAPORE / INDONESIA

This is the perfect peasant fare: the cheapest of fish, cooked in the simplest of ways – just seasoned with salt and turmeric and fried until crisp and golden. It’s humble food that’s an absolute joy to eat. There is no classy way to eat this. Hold a sardine in your hands and let the fish’s oily juices run down your fingers and stain them a golden yellow. Tear through its salty, crispy skin with your teeth and dig into its moist, delicate flesh. The recipe below uses salt that I’ve flavoured with kaffir lime leaves for a citrusy fragrance, which needs to be made in advance, otherwise plain old sea salt is traditional and will do very nicely.

Serves 2–3
For the kaffir lime leaf salt (optional)
To serve
  1. To prepare the flavoured salt, first dry the kaffir lime leaves in the oven on a low heat. Remove the stems from the lime leaves and blitz the leaves together with the salt in a food processor. Leave for a day for the flavour to develop. This flavoured salt will keep for a few months in an airtight container.
  2. To prepare the sardines, snip along the belly and scrape the guts out. You can snip the head off too if it scares you, but I kind of relish seeing the head on my fish. Run the dull edge of a knife lengthwise against the skin to remove the scales. Wash well, then pat dry.
  3. Rub the sardines all over with the flavoured salt and turmeric, especially inside the belly.
  4. Add enough oil to cover the base of a frying pan. On a moderate heat, fry the sardines, flipping over once, until crispy and golden on both sides, about 2–3 minutes per side. Leave to drain on paper towels. Finish with a squeeze of lime juice.