Korean Spicy Anchovies
Difficulty: Easy1
servings5
minutes15
minutesThis is one of my favourite banchans (Korean side dishes) when out for K-meals! One jar of these goes for ... *not cheap* in Singapore, and your home gal here can devour aloooot of it. So I decided to recreate this at home with the huge bag of dried anchovies I got from the supermarket in Lotte Department Store. Otherwise, the tiny fishes will just be hanging out idly in the back of my fridge. The smaller anchovies are better suited for this stir-fried dish. So size down if you must, don't go any bigger. hahaha If you don't have rice syrup, I've included the sub measurements in the notes below. Enjoy!
Ingredients
50g dried anchovies
1 Tablespoon chili flakes
1 Tablespoon gochujang
3 T rice syrup or corn syrup (if using table sugar see *notes below)
1 garlic, sliced
30g water
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Sesame seeds, for garnish
oil, as needed
Directions
- Heat your pan up over medium-low heat. Add in about 2 Tablespoons of neutral tasting oil. Once it's heated up, add in your dried anchovies. Stir-fry until golden, toasty, and fragrant. Stir them frequently to prevent them from burning. This entire step can take anywhere from 6 to 10 minutes. Set aside in a bowl.
- Into the bowl, mix your gochujang, chili flakes, water, fish sauce, sesame oil, and rice syrup/corn syrup together with your anchovies. Stir until it's all well-combined.
- Tip the seasoned anchovies back into your pan and continue to cook this over low heat until the anchovies become sticky and glossy with the sweet-savoury-spicy sauce.
- Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds to serve.
Notes
- Don't use anchovies that are too large here. The smaller ones are more suitable for this dish.
- If using sugar instead of rice syrup, reduce amount to 2 Tablespoons as sugar is sweeter than rice syrup.
- The longer you cook these, the stickier they become, so taste and experiment which texture you prefer.
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