Sardinas En Salsa Criolla (Sardines in Cuban Creole Sauce)

This is one of those dishes my grandmother make if she feels like making something quick and fast, it only needs rice on the side and it's a complete meal, if you wish to make it more "elaborate" you can serve with a raw salad, or serve someone a cuban black bean soup you might have leftover in the fridge haha. You get what I mean :)

I love this I make it often atleast once a week because I love sardines and anything fishy.

Ingredients:
-1 can of sardines packed in tomato sauce
-1/2 a bell pepper julien
-1/2 onion julien
-4 cloves garlic mashed (in a mortar or with a garlic press)
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-1/2- 1 cup water
-1 bay leaf
-1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
-1/2 tsp. oregano
-salt to taste if needed (I didn't use any because the canned fish has enough salt)
-2 tablespoon to 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1/2 bunch minced cilantro or parsley

Directions:
(1)In a medium to large pan heat olive oil, sautee bell pepper, garlic, and onion on medium high or medium until everything is fragrant and onion is kind of translucent. Add tomato sauce some water, cumin, oregano, bay leaf, stir well, bring to a boil reduce a bit.
(2)Add sardines, along with the sauce it has in the can, you can cut break each one in half if you wish. Don't move it around to much or it will destroy it, spoon sauce over to coat. Cover and simmer on low 5-10 minutes.
(3)Add some minced cilantro to garnish, sink a bit into sauce.
(4)Serve with some rice