Posts Tagged: Korean

Roasted Peanut and Anchovy Banchan

On February 3, 2026 0 Comments - Cooking

Roasted Peanut and Anchovies:

This is one of my all time favourite Korean side dishes. It is much more common to see it called Fried Anchovy and Peanut / 멸차땅콩볶음 but this version has far more peanuts than fish so I reversed the name to Peanut and Anchovy / 땅콩멸치볶음. There are a few different grocery stores around me that sell ready made versions and I have tried all of them. Some are spicy, some are not and the ratio of anchovy to peanut is all over the place. Some are mostly anchovy, some half and half and some (in the cheaper places) are mostly nuts with just a few fish. Peanuts are cheaper than dry anchovies by far. This recipe is a mostly peanut version..which is really the one I love most. I also have an anchovy only recipe here.

Ingredients:

  • 250 grams (about 1.5 cups) dry non-roasted peanuts
  • 25 grams (1/2 cup) medium small dried anchovies
  • 45 grams (3 tablespoons) brown sugar
  • 50-60 ml (4 tablespoons) water
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic
  • pinch of korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
  • sesame oil and sesame seeds (optional but tasty)
  • olive oil for frying
Raw ingredients.

Feel free to change the ratio of peanuts to anchovies. You can even make this without anchovies for a vegan side dish.

The peanuts should be non-roasted and unsalted. I found these red skin dry (but not roasted) peanuts at a local asian grocery store. If you can’t find raw peanuts…you can substitute roasted peanuts and skip the oven step.

I am using medium small dried anchovies. They are roughly twice the length of a peanut and probably the biggest anchovy I would use without gutting them. I found these at a Korean grocery store in the freezer section.

You can use white sugar instead of brown.

Process:

On a tray, roast nuts in a single layer at 350F / 175C for 20-25 minutes.
Meanwhile, mince the garlic. Tiny dice is better than crushing the garlic into a paste.
Combine the water, brown sugar, garlic and chili flakes in a small bowl.
Mix it well until the sugar is mostly dissolved.
After around 25 minutes in the oven, the nuts with be somewhat darker, the skins will split a little and they will smell deliciously roasted. Taste one..if it still has a raw texture, put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
Once the nuts are finished roasting, drop the anchovies into a warm dry pan. Set the heat to high.
I like to mix them with my hands until they get almost too hot to handle. This will remove any moisture from the fish.
Once the fish are warmed through and dry, add some oil to start frying. I am using olive oil…around 1 or 2 tablespoons.
Add the roasted peanuts to the pot.
Mix together until everything is hot. They should already sound pretty dry and crunchy in the pan. The heat should still be set to high.
Once everything is hot, push the fish and nuts to one side and drop in the sugar, water, garlic mixture. Let it bubble and hiss until it reduces and thickens.
Once it has thickened up, stir to coat all the nuts and fish.
Keep stirring until the sugar starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. There will probably be some smoke and a strong caramel aroma.
Turn everything out onto a pan or plate to cool completely to room temperature. It will seem kind of sticky at first but once it cools completely it will have a crunchy candy coating.
After cooling, taste them and add any other seasonings you may like. You can dust a little chili flakes on them if you want them more spicy. I like to toss in some roasted sesame seeds and a squirt of good sesame oil. Store them in the fridge in an airtight container. They should last for a couple of weeks but really, they are so delicious that I am surprised if mine last even 3 days!

How to eat them

These are delicious to eat straight out of the container with a beer, like a bar snack while you watch a movie. You can, of course, serve them as a side dish to any food. Probably my favourite way to eat these is to use them as a crunchy topping on fresh salad. The deep savoury and nutty sweetness can really make a pretty plain salad extraordinary.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please leave them below. If you enjoy the content and would like to contribute towards website maintenance and development, you can make a donation here. Look forward to hearing from you and thank you for reading TigerSalad!

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Kimchi Jjigae with Tuna

On January 16, 2026 0 Comments - Cooking

Kimchi jjigae with tuna (참치김치찌개) is a hot and satisfying dish that you can put together in a few minutes with as little as two or three ingredients. Below is a list of ingredients that I like to use but really, almost anything goes. Feel free to add different vegetables or leave out anything you don’t like. This recipe will make two smaller portions or one very large portion.

ingredients for kimchi jjigae with tuna

Ingredients:

  • 1 can of tuna in oil
  • 1 cup sour kimchi
  • 1/2 cup kimchi juice
  • 1 cup anchovy broth (or water)
  • 1/2 zucchini
  • 1 korean green chili pepper
  • 1 cup diced tofu
  • 1/2 onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 green onions
  • sesame oil
  • salt
  • sugar

The ingredients in bold are essential. Everything else is optional. I am using veggies I have in the fridge. You can add or subtract anything you like. As long as you have some fermented kimchi and a can of tuna, you can make this. I like it with extra veggies and especially with tofu.

Use canned not fresh tuna. It is not the same. I am using Korean tuna in oil but any canned tuna is fine.

There is a link in the ingredients to a recipe for anchovy broth. You don’t need it but, it adds a lot of depth to dishes like these if you use it in place of water.

Process

ingredients all chopped up
Chop all your veggies into bite sized pieces.
frying vegetables in stainless pan
Heat your pan, add some oil and cook vegetables until they are warm and a little soft and translucent.
adding in sour kimchi
Drop in sour kimchi and warm it through.
adding kimchi juice
Add kimchi juice if you are using it.
adding anchovy broth
Add anchovy stock if you are using it. If you don’t have kimchi juice or anchovy stock, don’t worry. Just add enough water to cover and cook the vegetables.
covering pot
Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and cover with a lid. Cook for 20 minutes.
adding tofu and canned tuna
After 20 minutes, add in tofu and tuna. Stir gently and cook until warm. Now is the time to taste and adjust seasoning. Add salt if you think it needs it. Add sugar for a little sweetness. Stir in a little chili powder or gochujang if you want it a little spicier. I ended up adding just a teaspoon of sugar and it was perfect for me.
the finished stew in a black bowl garnished with chopped green onion, sesame seeds and sesame oil
Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh green onion, sesame seeds and a little sesame oil.
finished dish of kimchi jjigae with tuna alongside a bowl of purple rice
I usually just eat this with a bowl of rice. I happen to have some peanut and anchovy banchan so I will have that too. Today I went shopping without my glasses to buy black AND white sesame seeds. When I got home, I found out that I actually bought white sesame seeds and a bag of black rice. Happy accident! Black rice is delicious. Add a spoonful of black rice to normal white rice in your rice cooker and you end up with this beautiful and savoury purple rice.

Variations

As I mentioned at the start, you can put just about anything you want into this dish. There is no definitive recipe for kimchi jjigae. Aged sour kimchi and a can of tuna are the only must haves. Experiment with all kinds of veggies. I also love smoky bacon in this dish. Fry it up with your veggies at the start.

If you are using water instead of kimchi juice, you can stir in a little gochujang for extra colour, flavour and spice if you like.

If you do not have anchovy broth but you do have anchovies and kelp on hand: take a square of kelp and a few dry anchovies and tie them in a little sack of cheesecloth. Add them to the simmering jjigae at the start. This will give you a similar flavour to anchovy broth. Just pull them out and discard after 15-20 minutes.

For a good recipe for homemade kimchi have a look HERE.

If you have any questions or comments or suggestions, please leave them below. I always look forward to hearing from you. If you enjoy the content and would like to contribute towards website maintenance and development, you can make a donation here. Thank you for reading TigerSalad!

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Anchovy Broth

On January 14, 2026 0 Comments - Cooking

Anchovy broth or myeolchi yuksu (멸치육수) is a basic fish stock. It is an essential base for many Korean dishes. It is very easy to make, has endless uses and large batches can be frozen in single use containers to use later on. The recipe can be as simple as just anchovies and water or it can incorporate a number of aromatic vegetables or even seaweed and dried mushrooms. The recipe below uses anchovy, kelp and just a few other ingredients to make a delicious stock. This recipe gives you about 8 litres / 2 gallons of stock. If this seems too big, just half or quarter all of the ingredients.

Ingredients:

  • 8 litres / 2 gallons of water
  • 40-50 medium large dried anchovies (around 100 grams)
  • 8-10 small squares of dashima seaweed aka kombu (around 10-15 grams)
  • 500 grams Korean radish
  • 1 large onion
  • 12 cloves of garlic

Dried anchovies can be found at Asian grocery stores. They come in a few different sizes from very tiny (1 cm) to fairly large (about the length of a finger). The ones I am using are on the larger side.

Dashima is thick, rigid and sometimes powdery looking dark green seaweed. You can find it in the dry goods section of Asian grocery stores in big long strips or a smaller bag of pre-cut squares. Either work fine. I prefer the little squares just because they are easier to work with in smaller recipes. There are lots of different dry seaweeds on the shelf. The one we are using here will say Dashima / 다시마 or Kombu if it is from Japan.

Process:

Remove the guts from the anchovies.

The guts in these bigger anchovies can be bitter so it is a good idea to remove them. I find it is easiest to split the fish from the back with a fingernail like this. The guts are the hard black mass behind the head.
Fish with guts removed
After cleaning all the anchovies there is a fair amount of guts. You can imagine that there is enough here to affect the final flavour if they are left in. Gutting them is quick and easy and definitely worthwhile.
Chop onion and garlic into big chunks.
Peel and slice radish into nice uniform pieces. These can be saved and eaten later.
Everything goes into a stockpot along with the 8 litres of water.
Cover pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
Once the stock is rolling, reduce heat to medium and cover the pot. This will cook for 25-30 minutes. We will remove the kelp after about 10 minutes so set a timer.
About halfway through cooking (after 10 or 15 minutes max), remove the kelp (dashima). If you cook kelp longer, it will start to release tannins which can add unpleasant flavours to the stock. Afterwards, cover the pot and continue to cook for another 15 minutes.
When the stock is fully cooked after 25-30 minutes, remove the radish pieces.
Lay them out flat to cool. These radishes absorb all the flavours of whatever they are cooked with. These leftover radish pieces retain enough firmness and are so full of flavour that they are delicious to eat as is. Use them as a side dish. Or, dip them in your favourite twigim or tempura batter and fry them up.
Pass the stock through a strainer.
Discard the spent fish and veggies.
I divide my anchovy stock into yogurt containers and freeze them. Each container holds enough stock to make one big portion or two smaller portions of soup/jiggae etc..
These will keep in the freezer for a few months at least. I end up using them much faster.

Uses:

This stock is the base for many Korean dishes including sundubu jiggae, kimchi jiggae, noodle soups, etc. In almost any savoury recipe that calls for water, substitute with this stock to make it extra delicious. Dishes like Tteokbokki reach new heights of tastiness when made with a good strong anchovy stock.

In the heat of summer, I will even drink this stock ice cold as is. It is that delicious and refreshing!

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please leave them below. I am always happy to hear from you. If you enjoy the content and would like to contribute towards website maintenance and development, you can make a donation here. Thank you for reading TigerSalad : )

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