Before using in this dish you will need to remove the anchovies’ heads, bones and intestines otherwise you may find their smell to pungent and their taste too bitter. This takes some patience but is not so bad for a small portion.

Small sized dried anchovies are great for eating, you can sauté them with fresh chillies, garlic, some herbs and sesame oil or eat them as a snack with a glass of beer.

For this dish I used some medium-small sized dried anchovies that my mother sent me about 6 months ago. Thankfully she had already removed their heads, tails, intestines and bones.

Give them a rinse under the cold tap a couple of times.

Drain any excess water and then dry them once with some kitchen towels.

Add all the drained anchovies into the pan and stir fry them for 7-10 minutes stirring constantly.

Remove all the fried anchovies and set them aside for a while in a bowl.

Stir each ingredient for 20 seconds on a high medium heat with wooden spoon before adding the next one to bring out the flavour of each ingredient.

You can keep this dish fresh for over a week in your fridge.

Cooking time: Less than 30 minutes

Serves: 4-8 people as a tasty side dish

Ingredients

You need to buy these ingredients from a Korean supermarket

• Gochojang (Korean chilli paste)
• Korean plum cooking juice

For the stir fry dried anchovies

• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 70 g dried anchovies, remove the anchovies’ heads, bones and intestines

For the sauce

• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1ts freshly grated garlic
• ½ tsp freshly grated ginger
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 20 g Gochojang
• 20ml Korean plum cooking juice
• 30 ml Golden syrup
• ½ tps  ground black pepper
• 2 tbps  toasted sesame seeds

Here you can see different servings of these anchovies in chilli paste with egg and seaweed rice rolls all ready for a small party.

• See how to make Chungmu Kimbab (link coming soon)
• See how to make Egg Roll Kimbab (link coming soon)