The market · Fish and seafood · Southeast Asia, East Asia

Dried anchovies

Ikan bilis or teri: tiny dried anchovies, fried until crisp for nasi lemak and sambals, or simmered whole to make stock in Korean and Japanese kitchens.

salty · savoury · crisp

What to do with it

Kenji Hara's Sourdough, 100% ryeDried anchovy would give it depthIbu Sari's Beef rendangDried anchovy would give it depthAna Etxarri's ChawanmushiDried anchovy would season itRosa Ibarra's Clarified milk punch, mezcal and pineappleDried anchovy would soften its edge
Classics built on it
MinangkabauSala lauakCrisp little balls of rice flour dough, yellow with turmeric and full of small salted fish and chilli, deep-fried.No one here has made it yetMalaysianNasi lemakRice cooked in coconut milk and pandan, with sambal, crisp anchovies, peanuts, cucumber and egg.No one here has made it yet

If you can't find it

Asian grocers, as ikan bilis or myeolchi.

  1. 1Fish sauce
    A little, in a stock
    You lose the crunch, where they're fried.

Goes with

peanutchillicoconut ricesambal

Knowing it

Where to buy
Southeast Asian and Korean grocers, by size. Small ones for frying whole, larger ones (heads and guts removed) for stock.
Worth knowing
Rinse and dry them before frying in moderate oil; they go from crisp to bitter quickly.

Kitchens that keep it in

KoreaKoreanA cooking of ferments — kimchi and the jang pastes — with rice, soup and a table of small side dishes at every meal.11 classics

More fish and seafood

Fish and seafoodAnchoviessalty, savoury, brinysavouryrichsalty1 classicFish and seafoodBottargabriny, waxy, rich, ambersavouryrichsaltyNot cooked here yetFish and seafoodCrabssweet, briny, delicate3 classicsFish and seafoodCuttlefishsweet, dense, brinyNot cooked here yet