How to use Asian dried anchovies?

[mrbozo]

I love the "fresh" European anchovies and have found and invented many uses for them. I've often noticed the bins and bags of dried anchovies at Asian groceries. How are these used? Anyone have any recipes?

TIA

[C. Hamster]

I sometimes just eat them out of the bag -- I dip them in kochujang.

[Candice]

I eat them as a snack. I also read an article recently that you can simmer them in water for about 15 min. to make a quick stock that serves as the base for a lot of Korean soups and stews.

I know this sounds weird but I also keep a bag of them in the fridge as cat treats. I like that they're not full of fillers and preservatives (I buy the ones with the ingredients: fish, salt) like conventional pet treats. It totally grosses my boyfriend out when the cats and I sit around in the kitchen eating them.

[alex8alot]

my grandmother always uses them for a broth for various simple korean soups and stews

[ceejoi]

my family usually eats them like they're chips or with steamed rice and fresh cucumbers.

[cheryl_h]

They're used to make sambals and as a base for fish stocks. I've also had them fried and served as a side dish. If you google "ikan bilis" you'll find lots of recipe suggestions.

[bitsubeats]

in korea you use them for making fish stock..then you throw away the fish after the stock is made. or you can buy the tiny tiny ones and stir fry them with some sugar and sesame seeds and eat them with rice

[another_adam]

yeah, as suggested above, if they're little, you can fry 'em up in a little vegetable oil (just a little, and not too long) and stir in a little bit of gochujang (pepper paste), cooking syrup (korean malt syrup = mulyeot, or maybe even a drizzle of corn syrup might work? or sugar, in a pinch), and perhaps a couple drops of soy sauce; sprinkle with sesame seeds.

the little ones can also be mixed in with other crunchy snack foods, for some extra crunch and calcium. (In fact, there are several snack blends that come with them inside, such as with squid peanut, rice cracker, etc.)

If they're relatively big, they're better for stock. for really big ones, some people cut off the heads for making the stock, but i've never found it to be necessary. For thicker stew-type soups, like the korean version of miso soup (dwenjang chigae) I usually just leave the fish in the soup, grandmother-style :) They add some calcium and extra flavor.

[bitsubeats]

people cut off the heads? too much work if you ask me. Also, I find that if I accidently eat a body it tastes really sharp and irony - must be all the guts and the head.

as a child, one of my favorite breakfast foods was rice mixed with cold boricha and eaten with those tiny sugared anchovies. Since the boricha was cold, it was a great summer breakfast dish

[pepper_mil]

What is the name of the Korean dish where they are covered with a sticky red sauce that tastes like it has lots of kochujang and sesame? I had it as a panchan in a Korean restaurant recently and it was one of the best versions I'd ever tasted.

[another_adam]

It's myeolchi bokkeum (=anchovy stir-fry)

taking away the heads is too much work for me too (and unnecessary), it's just for the big ones, and I think it's maybe more common in Japan.

[mrbozo]

Thanks for all the tips. Looks like I'll have some (small) fish to fry.