The Ginisang Sardinas with Misua and Patola Recipe is a type of food that brings a flood of memories. It’s a rainy day and I suddenly had a craving for this soup. So today, we’re learning how to cook sardines with misua. In my growing up years, this is the kind of food that gets served during typhoons as sardines is easy to distribute as relief goods. It’s also a petsa de peligro recipe since it can serve the entire family with less than a hundred pesos. Moms have mastered this recipe and can cook it while sleepy. Because it’s easy to cook, most workers cook this on construction sites. I see them sharing food and makes me think that food is really great at bringing people together.
It also plays a role for college students who are looking for a tummy-filling meal without spending too much. In college, we’d steal – ✌️ehemm, vegetables from the Agriculture Kids at UP Los Banos and cook this sans the Misua. For Holy Week, we also have this because it has no pork and we can do our abstinence. See? I told you, lots of memories. For some reason, just thinking about it makes me drool.
The star of this show is really the patola. Patola (or Ribbed Loofah in English -yes the same one used for your loofah scrub). The fresh ones are rich in Vitamin C which is a great antioxidant plus this is also great for losing weight. They taste great with the Sardines in Tomato Sauce. Poor patola. They get used for jokes a lot -like Patola ka Day! It has absolutely nothing to do with Patola but more to do with “patol” which means stooping down to the level of someone. In today’s parlance – “Dont make patola to the troll.” meaning Don’t feed the troll.
Miswa is a very thin wheat noodles. Misua, also known as maisua, is a form of vermicelli made of wheat flour and is very commonly used in Southeast Asian cooking. It seems that this originated in China but our Misua -also known as the Philippine Noodles is thinner than the Chinese Ones. They’re very popular and cheap. It’s available in grocery store’s and even neighborhood Sari Sari Stores. When cooked with sardines, it makes a wonderful, healthy and delicious meal that anyone can enjoy.
Ginisang Sardinas with Misua and Patola Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small onion, minced
- 1 small can sardines (in tomato sauce)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups water
- 1 medium Patola, peeled and sliced ½ inch size
- 2 ounces misua (thin flour noodles)
Instructions
- Heat a cooking pot and add some oil.
- Sauté garlic and onions until soft.
- Add the sardines including the sauce and cook for 2 minutes over medium to low heat.
- Season with patis (fish sauce) and ground black pepper then stir gently. Add water, patola slices and boil until your patola is cooked and it turns green.
- Add the misua and cook for 2 minutes over medium heat while carefully stirring to separate the noodles.
- Turn off the heat and serve hot!
Notes
Watch out for your misua. It’s easy to overcook. It also tends to absorb water so eat it immediately and don’t leave leftovers.
