Effortnesslessly: Anchovy Snack

For those who loves anchovies, beer and Korean food.
Blog's Category: International

Anchovy Snack

Intro

I love anchovies and everything about it - anchovy stuffed olives, anchovy-based caesar dressing, Jacques Pepin's cheese and anchovy appetizer is one of my favorites, list can go on and on. Anchovies have that umami taste that makes anything taste better. Recently my love to anchovies become deeper and has taken a steep dive with this recipe - what can be more anchovy-er than this Korean Anchovy Snack?!

With my recent wandering into Korean food, I come across of anchovy snack and, coincidentally, I had pack of dried anchovies picked up from Asian store and ready to be used somewhere-sometime - seems to me like a perfect opportunity to try out something new and exciting, right?

I have to say that neither my husband nor my son where too excited about that - frying anchovies made funny fume going around the house and the final product was perhaps too exotic for them, but I really liked it. Will you?

Taste Description

Flavors and strong taste is overwhelming - it's actually combination of strong tastes of garlic, salty anchovies, sesame seeds, bumped with red pepper hit and oddly paired with sweetness of brown sugar. Imagine all of those burst within a crunchy, chewy texture of anchovies and sesame seeds, and you'll have the picture.

How to Serve

Serve as a snack. It will go well with dark beer or as a "passing by" snack - some extra calcium with Omega-3 won't hurt, right?

Anchovy Snack

4 oz (120g) of small dry anchovies (larger anchovies are not good fit for this recipe - their guts needs to be cleaned out otherwise they will be way too bitter)
2 tbs flavorless olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbs brown sugar (or honey or maple syrup)
2 tsp water
1/3 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
1 tbs roasted sesame seeds

- Place dry anchovies into colander and shake off tiny crumbs of anchovies - they will burn up quickly when you'll start frying anchovies.

- Dry fry anchovies on a medium heat, continuously stirring, until they become golden-pretty (don't forget to turn on exhaust hood!). It will take about 5-10 minutes.

- When anchovies sound dry and look tan, add olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, brown sugar, sesame seeds and 1 or 2 tsp of water. Continue to stir for another couple of minutes to incorporate ingredients onto anchovies. Take off the heat - it's done. Enjoy!

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IN PICTURES

I like to roast my own sesame seeds - it's much more cheaper and tastier.

..and it's easy and fast - just throw seeds on a dry skillet and cook stirring on a medium heat until beige-gold, puffy and aromatic.

Cool down seeds completely before transferring to a jar. If you are not going to use it often - keep in a freezer door (seeds have a lot of oil and tend to spoil quickly). If you use it a lot, like me, store on a cabinet shelf - anyway they won't live that long to become rancid.