Recently I have been hooked on “wok hei” stir fry foods, especially the spicy version. I bought a container of spicy anchovies stir fry from a Chinese deli but just couldn’t get enough of it, so I decided to make it at home.
Spicy Anchovies with Five-Spiced Tofu
Spicy Anchovies with Five-Spiced Tofu
Ingredients:
1 cup of dried anchovies– rinse and drain
4 pcs five-spiced pressed tofu– cut into strips
6-10 fresh hot pepper– chopped
1/2 red bell pepper– cut into strips (optional– for its texture and color for the oil)
3-4 cloves garlic– thinly sliced
3 slices fresh ginger– cut into thin strips
1 tsp dry fermented black beans– rinse
cilantro for garnish
Seasoning:
salt
chicken bouillon powder
few drops of soy sauce
Method:
- Add some oil to a very hot wok, drop tofu and saute until lightly brown. Dish out and remain the high heat. Repeat with red bell pepper, adding little more oil if needed. Dish out bell pepper.
- When the wok is smoking hot again, add more oil and fry anchovies, garlic, hot peppers and black beans until aromatic and anchovies are dry but not crisp. Return tofu and bell peppers to wok, add seasoning to taste and stir few times quickly. Toss in cilantro and dish out immediately. Serve immediately with steam rice or porridge.
Note:
- Sauteing red bell pepper will give out some red oil– making the dish look spicy without adding too much hot peppers, especially good for those can’t take the pepper heat.
- This kind of quick saute dish is all about “wok hei” (the flavor and essence of the food cooked using a smoking hot wok), thus the wok must be on smoking high heat during the cooking process. The dish is best served immediately or it won’t taste the same.
- Any leftover of this dish can also be served as a cold side dish– don’t heat up again or the bell pepper will be soggy.
Queen of the Chennaults 