Sardines with Misua and Patola or simply — Misua Soup — is a regular soup dish made from thin flour noodles, sardines, and luffa. The thin flour noodles are known as misua in the Philippines. The sardines refer to canned sardines in tomato sauce, while luffa is a type of vegetable; it is known as Patola in Filipino.
I am featuring this recipe because I grew-up enjoying this dish. It is simple and very quick and easy to prepare. I remember having this dish in the Philippines every rainy season or when there is a typhoon — and the power is down. Brown-outs happen most of the time back then — when it is raining hard or during typhoon season. I’m not sure if this is still the case right now in Manila, though. Anyway, I think that my mom chooses to cook Misua with Sardines and Patola (and fried tuyo too) because it is done once the water starts to boil – literally speaking. Then we can have a quick lunch or dinner (depending on the time of day) and go back to what we are doing which is to place an empty pail under leaking parts of the ceiling, or to monitor the rise of water from the nearby creek and get ourselves ready for a possible flood. We were always thankful because our place never got flooded. You know what; I really enjoy eating when it’s raining crazy. It seems like heavy rain and the cold breeze (or strong wind) combined improves my appetite. Can any of you relate to that?
Going back to this Sardines with Misua and Patola Recipe, you can use either the hot (red can) or the regular (green can) sardines, as long as it is tomato sauce based. I don’t think that Spanish style sardines will work well for this recipe, and beside it costs more than the tomato sauce based sardines. If you want to have Spanish style sardines, I suggest that you enjoy it as it is – take it out of the can or bottle and eat it with warm rice or with bread.
I like to eat Sardines with Misua and Patola with warm steamed white rice. It also works best for me to eat it with spicy patis (fish sauce). Aside from this recipe, you can also do a simpler version by removing the patola, which will be this Sardines with Misua Recipe. You can also replace the sardines with meatballs to transform it to a dish called almondigas.
Try this simple Sardines with Misua and Patola Recipe.
Sardines with Misua and Patola Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 ounces Misua noodles
- 15 ounce canned sardines in tomato sauce
- 1 medium patola luffa peeled and sliced
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
- 1/2 to 1 head garlic crushed
- 1 medium onion diced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- 4 to 5 cups water
Instructions
- Heat the cooking oil in a soup pot.
- Saute the garlic until medium brown.
- Add-in the onion. Continue to saute until the texture becomes soft.
- Pour-in the sardines in tomato sauce. Stir.Cook for a 2 minutes.
- Put-in the patola and cook for 1 minute.
- Pour-in the water. Let boil. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add-in the misua. Gently stir. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Put-in the green onions.
- Transfer to a serving bowl. Serve.
- Share and enjoy!
Rose says
May 22, 2014 at 2:44 amHi. I’m just curious why the salt and pepper are added towards the end of the procedure when the dish is almost done. Don’t they be added when the meat and water are added to the pot so the meat and sauce are seasoned while cooking?
Vanjo Merano says
May 22, 2014 at 8:33 amHi Rose. Thanks for posting your question. Salt and pepper is usually added in the end because these seasonings are used to adjust the taste of the dish. Adding them at the start or in the middle of your cooking process is also ok, but there is a possibility to add more later or to correct the taste afterwards if too much salt or pepper was added from the start. Sometimes, pepper can be added in the beginning to extract its flavor. I do that sometimes too, but salt should always be added towards the end -- in my opinion.
Tecath says
April 4, 2015 at 10:24 amTo taste good
fatima benitez says
June 3, 2014 at 5:22 amHi.guys can u teach me how to cook i really love cooking and i dont know how to cook to any favorite recipe i hope you can teach me…:)
tony valencia says
August 6, 2014 at 7:27 pmKindly show us how to make a simple java rice. Thanks
Reggie Sy says
August 28, 2014 at 10:15 pmCan you give me the recipe’? how to do a steak sauce?
Tecath says
April 4, 2015 at 10:38 amCan you give me a recipe in vegetables because my kids cannot eat a vegetables,they always like frozen foods,please help me