Korean chilli and anchovy side dish recipe

Late summer, early autumn is the time to pick chillies. My parents-in-law grow chillies on their small farm in the countryside so I asked my mother-in-law to show me how to make my favourite Korean chilli and anchovy side dish recipe (꽈리고추 멸치볶음)

The main ingredients are chillies, anchovies and garlic. It’s so simple and delicious. And adds a spicy and tasty kick to any Korean meal alongside some kimchi.

We started off by picking the chillies right off the plants. We picked a whole basket-full of chillies because my mother-law makes large batches at a time and then freezes them in portions to eat later.

 Chillies

The chillies that are used in this chilli and anchovy side dish are called gwari (꽈리 고추) chillies. (aka shishito peppers).

We picked the stalks off the chillies and broke the large ones in half. And then (and this is IMPORTANT) we checked that there were NO holes in the chillies. Holes = insects.

Gwari chillies look flatter and more wrinkly than the larger green chillies growing on the farm. I was told NOT to pick those for this dish…

My mother-in-law doesn’t use measurements when cooking, so we started off by frying ‘some’ cloves of garlic in oil.

You can use crushed garlic but whole or sliced cloves are better. Korean garlic is very strong raw, but the cloves will become soft and not too overwhelming after they have been cooked.

Next we added dried anchovies.

We used a lot more chillies than anchovies – say four or five cups of chillies to one cup of anchovies.

(Anchovies come in different sizes – small ones are fried and eaten whole. But when using larger ones like these ones, remove the heads and guts first. There’s some info on Maangchi about anchovies here)

So we fried the anchovies for a few minutes with the garlic until the anchovies were covered in the oil and there was a good smell going on.

Then the anchovies and garlic were taken out of the pan and the chillies added with some oil.

At first the chillies were bursting out of the pan but gradually after about 10 minutes of cooking and stirring they got softer and flatter and reduced in volume.

While the chillies were cooking my mother-in-law prepared the soy sauce mix which is used to add flavour to the dish.

NOTE ON SOY SAUCES IN KOREA

When I lived in Britain I thought there was only ONE kind of soy sauce.

I know. I hang my head in shame. Because there are whole AISLES of different soy sauces in the supermarkets in Korea.

For this dish my mother-in-law used 양조간장 yangcho kanjang, literally ‘brewed soy sauce’ which I believe is the go-to soy sauce in many homes and a staple of any Korean kitchen.

Trying to work out all the different types of soy sauces in the supermarket got my head spinning!

There are different processing methods, ageing times, ingredients, and colours. But there are two main types of soy sauce in Korea: classic Korean soy sauce and Japanese style soy sauce.

CHOSUN KANJANG 조선 간장 (Classic Korean soy sauce)

Your classic Korean soy sauce is known as Chosun kanjang. Chosun kanjang is the traditional one that was made at home before companies set up and soy sauce became mass produced.

My mother-in-law still makes her own soy sauce, but most families just buy it these days.

The main ingredients are soybeans, salt, and water. Traditionally, cooked soybeans are crushed into blocks called meju and tied together with straw and hung out to dry to make the fermenting agent.

WHE KANJANG 왜간장 (‘Japanese soy sauce’)

whe kanjang refers to soy sauce that is not made in this traditional Korean way. They were introduced from Japan and have a different fermentation process which involves soybeans and WHEAT.

So the main ingredients are soybeans, water, salt, and wheat.

These soy sauces can also have added ingredients such as anchovy, bonito, kelp or vegetable stock, and they may have added flavourings like garlic, onion, or even fruit like pear.

In this category yangcho kanjang (the soy sauce we are using in this recipe) is the most popular commercial soy sauce because it is the most versatile. It can work as a dip or salad dressing but also in cooking too.

This one is made by the company Sempio, the biggest soy sauce manufacturer in Korea. This has been the number 1 soy sauce in Korea for over 70 years (since mass production of soy sauce started in Korea) and the company occupies more than 61% of the market share of soy sauce in Korea!

I got a bit side-tracked there. Who knew soy sauce could be so complex?

Anyway, getting back to the recipe…

We mixed soy sauce with water (it will be too salty otherwise. one third soy sauce to two thirds water)

The amount of soy sauce mix depends on how many chillies you’ve got. Here we used about 2 cups of soy sauce. The mixture just covered the bottom of the pan but as it cooked the chillies reduced and soaked in the sauce.

We added a dash of corn syrup (mul-yeot 물엿) too, to take away any bitterness and fishiness. Mix everything together over the heat and bring the sauce to a boil.

The sauce won’t cover all the chillies at first. So it will need some stirring. But after a few minutes the chillies will flatten and change to a deeper green mixed with the soy sauce.

Once the chillies are soft and a darker green then the dish is ready. If there is a lot of soy sauce mix still left then turn up the heat and let most of this boil away.

Then turn off the heat and add sesame seeds and sesame/perilla oil. Mix everything together and it’s done – it only takes about 20 minutes to make.

Once the chillies have cooled down my mother-in-law divides them up into portions to be frozen and eaten gradually over the year. I brought some home too of course.

Eat the chilli and anchovy side dish with a bowl of rice and some kimchi. Delish.

related posts:

How to make kimchi
My mother-in-law’s gwari chilli and anchovy side dish
more posts on food and drink

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