Stuffed Sardines with Perilla and Pickled Plum
Stuffed Sardines with Perilla and Pickled Plum is perfect as an appetiser or a main dish. Deep fried crumbed sardine is pretty tasty but when you stuff a sardine fillet with perilla leave and pickled plum, it almost eliminates the fishiness of the sardine.Prep Time includes the time to fillet sardines (about 15-20 minutes)
- Prep time
- 35 min
- Cook time
- 5 min
- Yield
- 12 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 12 sardines ((about 15cm/6” long, total 320g, note 1))
- 3 umeboshi (, deseeded and chopped finely (note 2))
- 12 perilla leaves
- 12 toothpicks
- 1 egg
- 1½ tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 cup+ panko breadcrumbs ((note 3))
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- 1
Chop heads off sardines, remove the guts.
- 2
Use thumb to detach one side of the flesh from the back bone and butterfly the sardine.
- 3
Remove the backbone from the flesh and make butterfly the fillet.
- 4
Fillet all the sardines. Rinse quickly and pat dry with kitchen paper.
- 5
Place a sardine fillet on a cutting board, skin side down with the tail away from you.
- 6
Place a perilla leaf on the fillet with the pointy end of the leaf to the tail end. Place 1/10 of umeboshi in the middle, spreading horizontally.
- 7
Starting from the head-end (closer to you), gently but firmly roll the sardine fillets until the roll reaches to the tail.
- 8
Put a toothpick through from the tail-end of the meat to the other side of the roll so that the roll does not unwind.
- 9
Beat the egg in a small bowl. Add flour and water to the egg and mix well (note 5).
- 10
Dip each sardine roll in the egg mixture, then coat it with panko.
- 11
Heat oil in a pot or a deep fry pan to 170C. The depth of the oil needs to be a minimum of 5cm/2”.
- 12
Drop crumbed sardine rolls one by one into the oil and fry for a couple of minutes. Turn them over half way. Do not over-crowd the pan. I did it in 2-3 batches.
- 13
Transfer the sardines onto a plate lined with a couple of layers of kitchen paper.
- 14
Serve while hot without removing the toothpicks.