Anchovy Special

Anchovy is a small silvery fish with a greenish tint. Anchovy rarely exceeds five inches (12 cm) in length. It is an ocean going fish species found in a large range of environments. They taste good and are plentiful in the market. Anchovy has become a popular ingredients in making porridge, soup, stir fry, deep fry or as a snack in combination of other ingredients. Many population in the world regardless of race uses anchovy widely in cooking. We consume anchovy since childhood, our grandparents or parents like to make anchovy's soup as the base of other dishes, such as Wanton (dumpling) Soup (as per my previous post), pan-mee noodle soup, mixed vegetables soup and variety of traditional soup.

Anchovy was cheap during the past but now it's selling with various grade in the market with different pricing. The higher grade of anchovies are more pricey but they are cleaner, fresher and surely tastier. In Malaysia, you can get good quality anchovies at the islands where fishermen bring back fresh fishes everyday. I bought these anchovies in Pangkor Island, one of the islands in Malaysia. It really looks fresh and taste good compared to those sell in the hypermarket. The anchovies are whiter & cleaner in colour, smell really good. The bones have been removed for convenient use. You can choose how much of anchovies you want to buy because all are displayed in several huge barrels. Besides anchovy, you can buy variety of preserved seafood, dried fishes, dries shrimps, authentic pastes, scallops, oyster and many traditional condiments in Pangkor Island.

These are some of the photos captured during our trip to Pangkor Island.
The beach side view at Pangkor Island

The view at the Jetty

Beautiful scenery of the fisherman's boat

The place where they build the fisherman's boat

A close up of sea shell on the sea shore

Since, I have some good quality anchovies in hand. I thought of this recipe. This is one of the old recipes of my maternal grandmother, passed down to my mum and it has become our favourite side dish now. My grandma recipe called for fresh red chillies which can be eaten with the taucu paste (fermented soy beans in salt). I have modified the recipe with some dried chillies to bring more spiciness and "kick" to the paste. We will occasionally make this dish if we are keen of something more flavourful and appetizing. It surely enhances the main dishes with this recipe. We would also eat it with plain porridge or (Teochew porridge). Since, it is a traditional recipe from the old generation, it will be great to enhance and improve the recipe with other ingredients or condiments in the future! Isn't it great? Hopefully this will become your family favourite side dish too.
More information & references on anchovy here.

Ingredients: 200g Anchovies, halved - removed bones Sunflower oil for frying Paste ingredients: 5 pcs Dried Chillies (or 2 fresh red chilli - minced) 4 tbsp Minced Taucu (fermented soy beans in salt) Method: 1. Wash & soak dried chillies for 10 mins. Drained. 2. Remove the seeds, cut into smaller portion. 3. Rinse anchovies, drain with a colander until it is fully dry. Best to put under the sun. 4. Heat up oil, deep fry anchovies. Drain and put onto kitchen towel to absorbs oil. 5. Heat another 2 tbsp of the oil used for deep fried the anchovies. 6. Saute dried chillies for 2 mins, add in taucu. Keep stirring for about 2 mins (do not burn the paste). 7. Put taucu mix at the middle of a plate. Arrange anchovies around it. 8. Serve with plain rice. Note: • Get the pre-packed anchovies with the bones removed. • Deep fry anchovies until golden brown, drain up immediately & put on a kitchen towel to absorb excessive oil. Do not burn it. • You may substitute dried chillies with fresh red chillies, mince the red chillies. • Keep remaining fried anchovies in an air-tight container and consume in 3 days. • You can adjust the amount of anchovies and paste according to your own consumption.