Beer Battered Anchovies with Spicy Mayo Dip

I’ve always loved eating seafood growing up. Joanna and I was walking around Village Grocer in 1MontKiara one day and came across fresh anchovies.

I’ve not worked with fresh anchovies before. But have seen a lot of cooking shows using them to prepare appetizers. Since the wife was also keen on trying, we decided to get a pack to try. I think each pack has at least 20 anchovies, and they were only less that RM3. After that, we went around to grab other essentials and headed home.

I’ve always wanted to try making fried anchovies with a spicy dip. Since we have some KewPie Japanese Mayo, Sriracha and beer left in the fridge, decided to make a beer batter for the anchovies and frying them lightly.

Here’s a breakdown of how I did it:

Ingredients:

Fried Anchovies

12 Anchovies

5 tablespoons of Rice Flour

2 tablespoons of Glutinous Rice Flour

1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder

Salt

Pepper

Smoked Paprika Powder

1 can of Beer

Sunflower Oil

1 wedge of Lemon

Spicy Mayo Dip

3 tablespoons of Kewpie Japanese Mayo

2 tablespoons of Sriracha Sauce

A pinch of Salt and Pepper

First, rinse and pat dry the fresh anchovies with a kitchen towel. Place the anchovies in a bowl and add some salt, pepper and smoked paprika to marinade them. Leave to marinade for 10-15 minutes.

To the bowl containing the anchovies, further add the rice flour, glutinous rice flour, baking powder, more salt and pepper. Lastly, a generous amount of smoked paprika powder and mix well. The flour mixture should be slightly red due to the paprika powder.

In a deep pan or a small frying pot, heat up some sunflower oil. While the oil is heating up, open your can of beer and pour about a quarter can of beer into the mixture. Mix well and add the beer in small amounts until the mixture is well incorporated into a thick but smooth batter. (You can always opt for water is you are do not have beer at home).

Check on the oil, and if the oil is ready, place the anchovies into the frying pot and fry until they are golden brown. Once golden brown, remove from the pot and place the anchovies onto a plate lined with kitchen towel to remove the excess oil.

For the spicy mayo dip, simple mix about 3 tablespoons of Kewpie Japanese Mayo together with 2 tablespoons of Sriracha until well mix and add a pinch of salt and pepper to the dip to bring out the flavours of the dip.

Serve the beer battered anchovies in a bowl next to the spicy mayo dip and a wedge of lemon. Squeeze the wedge of lemon onto the anchovies and enjoy it with the dip.

Hope you guys will give it a go and tell us what you think. Take care.