Munch on Banchan

It's been quite a while since I've blogged about any new recipes. For the past few months I've been re-enjoying recipes that I've learnt over the past year.

One exception to this is a Korean banchan that I can't seem to get enough of.

It is a side dish made using dried boiled anchovies. Sound revolting? Well it's really not, it's freaking scrumptious!

First you chop up an onion, finely dice 3 cloves of garlic and 6 thai chillies. Sautee them for a few minutes in a little peanut oil before adding the anchovies

Matt is really not a fan of this recipe, he gets freaked out by the fact that you eat the whole fish, head, eyes n' all! Here's a close up.....

The fish are fried over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes (depending on how crispy you like them).
Then 4 tablespoons of red pepper paste, 2 tablespoons of honey and a tsp of dark soy sauce are added.

I allow my fish to cool for a few minutes before I add a dash of sesame oil. (I don't like heated sesame oil, it tastes strange)

The dish is served with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

I added it to my dinner of sichuan baby bok choy, watercress and enoki mushrooms. I used Kimchi as my second banchan. I also had a bowl of soybean paste soup with tofu and seaweed (It's a little like the Japanese miso soup, but the Korean soybean paste is more robust than the Japanese version.)

Nom nom nom....