In Korea, we have different types of anchovies for cooking. There are large dried ones (about 2 inches in length) for making broth, medium sized dried ones (about 1 inch) for side dishes, and really tiny ones; the ones that I am going to use today for this side dish. Anchovy sauce is also used as an important ingredient for kimchi. Anchovies are high in calcium, so they are good for your bones. When I was a kid, I hated eating anchovies because of the strong fish flavor. Now my tastes have changed, and I enjoy eating them. Today’s side dish is a fried sweet anchovy side dish. Once you make this, it will keep for several days. Since it is sweet, salty, and crunchy, you can eat it as a snack too.
Yield: 1 Cup
Short Korean Lesson
- MyeolChi (멸치) = Anchovy
- Kkae (깨) = Sesame Seed
Video Instructions
The recipe starts at 0:20
Main Ingredients
- 1½ Cups Tiny Dried Anchovies
- 1½ Tbsp Cooking Oil (Canola or Vegetable)
- 1 Tbsp Cooking Wine or Water
- 1½ Tbsp of sugar
- 1½ Tbsp of Corn Syrup
- ½ Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 2 tsp Garlic, Minced
- ½ tsp Sesame Seeds
Directions
Prepare 1½ cup of dried tiny anchovies. You can find them in Korean or Asian stores.
In a heated pan, fry 1½ cups of dried tiny anchovies for about 10-15 minutes on medium high. This step helps to get rid of the strong fish smell of anchovies a little. When the anchovies become lightly golden brown and dry, they are done. The anchovies will make a popping sound in the pan similar to popcorn popping.
Add 1½ Tbsp of oil, 1 Tbsp of cooking wine, 1½ Tbsp of sugar, 1½ Tbsp of corn syrup, ½ Tbsp of soy sauce, and 2 tsp of minced garlic. Mix all of the spices together before you mix them with the anchovies. Mix the sauce with the anchovies and fry them for 5-7 minutes on medium or until the sauce is no longer runny.
When they are done, sprinkle ½ tsp of sesame seeds on top. Stir again and turn off the heat.
Keep this in the refrigerator and serve with your other side dishes. Thanks! CAUTION: When you fry dried anchovies, it will smell up your whole house, so if you don’t like the strong smell of fish – or don’t want to smell like that – or if there is anybody who hates that smell in your house, you have been warned. hehe
looks good aeri!
thanks for the post!
Hi, Alex
You are welcome !!!
Have a great week !! 🙂
looks appetizing… thanks Aeris!
Hi, jhny69
Thank you for comment !! 🙂
Try it someday. hehe
I will! Thanks!
my husband will never let me cook this! haha 😉 i’ll just have to cook this when he’s away on army duty. It looks REALLY GOOD !! all i need is a bowl of rice and i’m set 🙂
Hi, farleen
haha… I have same feeling now.. if I cook this again, my husband will run away~~~~ hehe joke.. how often he is away on army duty?? have a good day !!
he’s gone 1 weekend of the month and gone for 2 weeks in the summer. that’s when i’m gonna cook all the good smelly stuff. haha 🙂
Hi, farleen
wow… 2 weeks are long~~~
haha.. you are funny.. good smelly stuff..
share some with me then. 😉
It was an another beautiful day today here. Have a good week !!!
OH! Unni, long time no chat!! Miss you!! my internet connection got problems, so i cant go online…T___T . Never know Korean eat this too!! I mean eat it like this way….We eat this in here too sis! Almost the same flavor i guess! XD looks so same!! Hahaha!
Hi, ChuiYew
Oh.. That happened… now you can use?? wow.. almost same flavor ?? interesting.. hehe tell me your blog address again..I can’t go there.. sorry..
Hi unni, yeah, no still can’t use , i just go out some cafe and use it there… T___T.. oh about my blog.. i will tell you when we online okay? something wrong with it…><
miss ya!!
Hi, ChuiYew
Oh..still ㅜ.ㅜ ???
Okay… I will wait for you then..
Hope you can use your internet again soon. miss you~~~
my husband can’t stand that smell too
><” however he likes to eat that. therefore, i cook this when he’s out. after cooking, my helper and i will open all the windows to air the whole house. what an operation,huh?
Hi, layping
haha.. at least your husband likes to eat this. Wow, you have a helper ?? I envy you.. I need a helper for house working..kkkk… thanks !!!
yup, i hate cleaning up! so, we have a live-in helper. she’s a great help to us!!
Hi, layping
Oh~~ That’s what I need…. hehe.. 🙂
Just discovered your blog, and LOVE it! Looking forward to new posts!
Hi, Sara
Wow, nice to meet you !!!
Thanks for visiting my blog. hehe..
yep.. I will post more recipes soon..
Hope to see you again ~~~ 🙂
hi aeris! this looks really good i have to try this soon. can you show us a tutorial on how to make “bindaedduk” i tried to make it last week but something wasn’t right ^^;; thank you!
Hi, heekyung
Nice to meet you !!!
Oh… bindaedduk.. that’s yummy..
Okay..I will add it to the list. thanks !!
Hope to see you more often. !!! 🙂
I have heard that if you make this dish, it really stinks up the house. Is that true? ^^
Hi, fredaj20
haha.. Yep, that’s true ~~~ 😉 So I usually don’t make it …lol
haha, made this the other day. the whole house stinked for a while o.O got to “air” the house after that. but it is worth the effort!
Hi, layping
haha.. you are brave… now.. I even don’t want to imagine the smell… oops.. @,@ hehe.. but enjoy your side-dish. 😉
Hi! This is one of my favourite banchan, I can eat TONS of these … LOL.
My recipe differs slightly: will microwave mini anchovy first to make them extremely crispy. No soy sauce. Use honey instead of corn syrup. Add some gochujang together with other seasoning to get that slight spiciness.
Will definitely drop by again 🙂
Hi, Chien
Nice to meet you!!!
Yes, sometimes I make this side-dish with gochujang instead of soy sauce. Honey sounds healthier than corn syrup..great !!!! Yes… please come back again ~~~ 🙂 Thank you !!!
Wow….
It looks good……
My family love this tiny fish…
I hope I can make it with my mom since we already buy some…
Usually we just fry this and eat it with rice and spicy sauce….
Thank you Aeri… =^-^=
Hi Rizka,
rice and spicy sauce with the fish sounds yummy.. thanks ^^
Thank you for all the recipes I so love korean side dishes. I live in Nome Alaska and don’t have any where to go out and eat my favorite food ever.
I want so many recipes. I am going to the city tommorrow so I well shop for some stuff on your list of my favs
hi Wanda Parker,
Nice to meet you.. wow you are living in Alaska ??? how’s the weather over there now ??? I hope you can try as many as Korean dishes you can.. thanks
Hi Aeri,
I love your website. I’m going to try out many of your recipes.
Question about this dish: Can I wash the anchovy first before frying them? I’m not comfortable with cooking them unwash.
Thanks!
Thanks!
hi zenith,
hehe.. yes try as many as recipes you can.. 😀 about your question.. yes you can if you feel uncomfortable with cooking them unwash.. only thing is.. if you wash the tiny anchovy.. it will be kind of soft.. soggy.. so what I want to tell you is.. after wash it.. remove some water with paper towel.. and without any oil.. just fry in a pan with maybe medium heat… to dry the moisture on the anchovies … then You will get sill crunch side-dishes.. enjoy ^^
I followed your recipe and made this about 3-4 times. I end up having them all stuck together like candy bars. Is there something I’m doing wrong?
Hi Judy,
It shouldn’t be all..but in some point.. some anchovies will be stick together.. it’s normal. Maybe you cooked them too high temperature .. so the sugar and corn syrup became like candy ??
Hi Aeri. I am making this for the 2nd time today. I love authentic asian food. I’ve tried your half dried pollack, potato side dish, and fried tofu also. This achovy is so similar to the ones my mom makes. yum! However the smell of the fish really bothers my bf. lol he said I cant cook this anymore until he goes out of town. oops. Thanks for all these awesome recipes! Take care.
hi Sze Ka,
wow.. second time ^^ great..
and you tried several my recipes.. did you like them ?? ^^
lol.. I agree with your bf.. I don’t like smell of it either.. hehe taste good though.. anyway..thanks
Hi, I had bought the tiny anchovy from a Korean store, they are in silver grey colour, not the one you were showing. Do I have to wash them first, if not washing them, are they clean ?
hi PW,
Mine was silver grey color too. When they dry them.. they was before they do that.. so it should be okay to eat without washing them. If you still don’t feel safe, you can wash and fry them without oil to dry the water. I didn’t wash mine. 🙂
I found some tiny frozen anchovies at my Asian grocery store, could I use those instead? They were half the cost. If not, no big deal, I could find other ways to use them.
hi Marisa.
Sure, if it’s cheaper.. why not.. hehe you can try them too.. just fry first before you add the sauce.. thanks
Can I use the sauce from the seasoned cuttlefish with these tiny anchovies?
hi Ginny,
Sure you can do that. Just adjust the amount of the sauce you will pour to the anchovy depending on the amount of anchovy.. and fry the anchovy first before you add the sauce as I did in this recipe. 🙂 thanks
Hi Aeri
I’ve been wathing your videos and and read most of your posts m(_ _)m you’re amazing!
I have one question : can I use Honey instead of Corn Syrup (here or in other recipes)?
Thank you and keep up the good job! You have a new fan 😛
Regards
hi kiris,
Sometimes honey can give too strong flavor to your dish.. if it’s dessert type thing it’s better..but if it’s just side-dish or normal food.. it can give weird flavor.. so I will say for this recipe, use sugar instead of corn syrup.. ^^ thanks
Hi Aeri!
I’m just curious about how long this side dish will last in the fridge? I’m guessing since it is fish only a day or two. Is this right? I don’t want them to go bad. I’m thinking about trying them with red snapper tonight cause I don’t know what else goes good with it. ^^ Thanks
hi xelainea,
It’s dried anchovies.. so actually they keep longer than you think..You can keep 2 or 3 weeks.. that’s why this is one of the common side-disehs Korean moms make and keep in the refrigerator to serve each meal. 🙂 I’m not sure about red snapper for this recipe.. maybe you can try my other dishes using fresh fish.. 🙂
would this work for large anchovies too?
hi acapella,
If you are asking about 1 inch lengh anchovies.. yes you can.. (just remove the head and intestine inside before making it. )but if your anchovies are big (about more than 2 inchies..flat big anchovies)..and for making broth.. I will not recommend you use that.
Hi Aeri,
Just discovered your website. This is a wonderful recipe. Will definitely try this. I actually love the smell of fried Anchovies 😉 .. Whenever I cook spicy “sambal” am sure to add them and eat it with bread. Now I can try with Anchovy BokkEum.. certainly smthg different.. Thanks..
Hi Aeri onni! I tried this side dish today, and it was all going well until I put my sauce mixture in and all of a sudden the dish got burnt in a few moments while I was mixing it in…Maybe I will reduce the heat next time ^^” Thanks for sharing! I’ve made so many yummy dishes with your help <3
Hi Aeri,
I ate in a restaurant with this anchovy as side dish and they put walnuts in it and it really taste good. Would you please teach me how to do it? Thank you. 😛
hi Erriel21,
I will add it to my list. 🙂 Anchovy with walnut ..tasty and healthy..yummy ~~ 🙂 Thanks
Hi, my husband is Korean. My sister in law taught me to cook this dish too. But she adds walnuts and almond. I am wondering do I still need to use soy sauce with walnuts and almond?
hi Rachel,
Yes, the sauce is basically the same.. you just add extra ingredients like walnuts and almond. Thanks
Just made this right before dinner, though I ended up adding a bit more than 3 cups of the anchovies and used honey instead of corn syrup and the “seasoning mixture” seemed to disappear very quickly , but it’s soon tasty! Super crunchy with great seasoning , some kimchi juice got on some of it while I was eating dinner and it tasted like heaven. 🙂 even my lucky husband loved it, now if only I could get my 2 year old to try it lol
Hi Sierra,
haha..i’m happy to hear that you and your husband liked this recipe. THANKS ^^
Can I substitute the cooking wine for cider or plain vinegar? Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
hi Mary,
I recommend you to just use plain water instead if you cant use cooking wine. thanks ^^
I skipped the soy sauce altogether and used honey I had on hand. I also added almond slices. Soooo good! Thank you!
Hi Rose,
You made it even healthier.. great job ~~ Thanks for your update. loved it ~~~