Cardillong Isda is an excellent use for leftover fish! Cooked with juicy tomatoes, onions, and fluffy eggs, it's a filling and delicious meal perfect with steamed rice.
One habit that has saved me precious time and unnecessary stress over the years is batch cooking. I like to double or triple a recipe and freeze it in individual containers to thaw and reheat for future meals.
I also like to prepare a few key ingredients in bulk to create different dishes throughout the week. For example, once a month, I'll make a huge batch of my tried-and-tested lumpia shanghai filling, divide the mixture into resealable bags, and store it in the freezer for other dishes. In addition to lumpia, I also use the versatile meat filling in sotanghon and bola bola soups, siomai, tortang talong, and pearl balls, to name a few.
When I fry fish, I cook a few extra pieces, turning them into escabeche, bangus sa tausi, or this cardillong isda for the next day's meal. By simply adding sauteed onions, tomatoes, and beaten eggs to leftover fish, I have a whole new dish to enjoy!
Ingredient notes
- Fish- the recipe uses pompano, but you can also use other meaty fish such as galunggong, dalagang bukid, tilapia, or bangus
- Oil- use a heat-stable oil for frying, such as avocado, grapeseed, or safflower
- Tomatoes- use ripe tomatoes as they're juicier and sweeter
- Onions and garlic- flavor base of the dish
- Eggs- well-beaten
- Water- add more or less depending on how saucy you like
- Salt and pepper- season to taste
- Fry the fish. Rinse the fish and drain well. With a knife, make two incisions across each side of the fish. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil about 1 inch deep in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the fish and turn as needed until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.
- Saute onions and garlic with oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add tomatoes and cook, mashing with the back of a spoon, until softened and release juices.
- Add water and bring to a boil. Add fish and cook until heated through.
- Add eggs to the pan in a slow stream. Allow to set slightly, then stir into the mixture, breaking it into pieces. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Cooking tips
- The fish is fully cooked from the frying and needs only a few minutes in the sauce to heat up and soak up the flavors. It absorbs a lot of the liquid; feel free to increase the amount of water and adjust the seasonings if you prefer the dish saucy.
- For the best texture, give the beaten eggs a few seconds to set and curdle before stirring.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between sarciado and cardillo?
Both dishes are similar in preparation, wherein fried fish is cooked with onions, garlic, and tomatoes. The difference is that beaten eggs are added to the sauce of cardillo, while sarciado does not include eggs.
How to serve and store
- Fish cardillo is delicious as a main dish for lunch or dinner. Serve with steamed rice for a hearty, tasty, and budget-friendly meal.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- Reheat in a pan over medium heat to 165 F, adding more liquid and adjusting the seasonings if needed. Or microwave at 2 to 3-minute intervals until heated through.
Ingredients
- 2 Pompano, cleaned and gutted
- salt and pepper to taste
- canola oil
- 1 onion, peeled and sliced thinly
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cup water
- 2 eggs, well-beaten
Instructions
- Rinse fish and drain well. With a knife, make two incisions across each side of fish.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- In a wide pan over medium heat, heat about 1 inch deep of oil. Add fish and cook, turning as needed, until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.
- In another pan, heat about 1 tablespoon oil. Add onions and garlic and cook until softened.
- Add tomatoes and cook, mashing with back of spoon, until softened and release juices.
- Add water and bring to a boil.
- Add fish and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes or until heated through.
- In a slow stream, add eggs to pan. Allow to slightly set and then stir into mixture, breaking into pieces.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
Notes
- The fish is fully cooked from the frying and needs only a few minutes in the sauce to heat up and soak up the flavors. It absorbs a lot of the liquid; feel free to increase the amount of water and adjust the seasonings if you prefer the dish saucy.
- For the best texture, give the beaten eggs a few seconds to set and curdle before stirring.
โThis website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.โ
CJ says
Our dinner for tonight...just remember my almost a year passed-away Lola about this recipe...i thought she invented the term heheh. Legit pala. My husband used to tagged this as "siarsiado" ๐
Lucille says
Hi Lalaine,
I just discovered your blog. Thanks to you I now know the name of this dish. My Mom used to make this for us. Bless her heartโค๏ธโค๏ธ.
I enjoy reading or watching cooking when not tending my grandchildren.
Keep on what you're doing.
Lucille
kristine says
tried this another recipe of yours,perfectly done. my fiance loved it and told me it really taste delicious! thank you ma'am lalaine ๐
Brix says
i find the "sabaw" lacking in taste so i added Fish sauce to give it a bit of a kick. ๐
Lalaine says
Hello Brix
I usually use fish sauce sa mga ginisa but I don't use it on this dish because I was afraid masyadong magiging "fishy". I am glad you were able to modify the recipe to your liking ๐
alou says
Hi Lalaine! i was wondering too how you-re able to do 2 blogs. Well now I know! I did not know about cardillo, actually never heard of that. My mom used to do that same recipe ingredients with tilapia, and we call it sarciado!
Lalaine says
Hi Alou
When it's just tomatoes and onions, it's sarciado. But when you add eggs, it's called cardillo. ๐
Dinah says
Uhm, so what I have been doing all along is called cardillo and not escabeche? Hahaha.
Lalaine says
Hi Dinah
Escabeche is with sweet sauce ๐ I only found out recently, too, that cardillo is tomatoes, onions and eggs. Without the eggs, it's called sarciado ๐