Healthy recipe: Sardine Roll Mops cooked in a Basil Tomato Sauce 

Growing up, sardines were a common sight at the dinner table for Chef Aji Joseph. So it’s no surprise that the chef who has since left his childhood home in Thalassery  to work for the Taj group, cruise liners in Miami and now culinary development and innovation at the online marketplace Fresh To Home, fondly returns to them, with a delicious contemporary twist. The health benefits of sardines, he says are, “They are high in Omega 3 fatty acids that help in the prevention of heart diseases by reducing the risk of blood clots and lowering blood pressure. The fish is also a source of calcium, which makes it ideal for pregnant women and older adults to include in their daily diet.”

Sardine Roll Mops cooked in a Basil Tomato Sauce 

Ingredients: 
Sardine marination
● Sardine fillet 12
● Garlic (chop) 1 tsp
● Basil leaves (shredded) 2 leaves
● Salt: to taste
● Olive oil 1 tbsp
● Black pepper 0.5 tsp
● Lemon juice 1 tbsp

Tomato Sauce
● Tomato (blanched and chopped): 500 gms ● Olive oil: 3 tbsp ●  Garlic (chop): 1 tbsp ● Onion (chop):1 tbsp ● Basil leaf: 5 nos ● Chilly flakes: 0.5 tsp ● Salt: to taste

Method
Prepare the Sardine marinade by mixing chopped garli, shredded basil leaves, black pepper, lemon juice and salt together. | Apply this marinade on the sardine fillet. | Roll the sardines along with the marinade and pierce with a toothpick to hold the shape. | Roll all the marinated sardines and keep aside.

To make the sauce
Heat up the oil in a pan. | Sauté chopped onion and garlic along with chilli flakes. | When the garlic and onion mixture is golden brown, add the blanched, deseeded, chopped tomato. | Add the shredded basil leaves and salt. | Once the sauce starts boiling slowly, slide the marinated sardine rolls into the boiling tomato sauce. | Reduce the flame and allow the sardine to cook in the sauce. | Do keep turning the sardine rolls. | With a tablespoon, pour the sauce over the rolls so that the sardine is cooked evenly on all sides. | The sardine rolls would get cooked in seven to eight minutes. | Allow the sauce  to thicken so that it can just coat the rolls. | Once cooked, the toothpick can be removed from the roll by a slight turn and a pull.
| Spread the sauce on the middle of a plate and arrange the cooked rollmops on the sauce. | Serve along with some potato mash and toasted garlic bread.

sonali@newindianexpress.com | @brightasunshine