Recipe: Piman no jakoitame (stir-fried peppers with crispy young anchovies)

Vibrant color, crispy texture.

In many ways, this pepper and anchovy dish is the perfect otsumami (tapas-style dish). For starters there’s its vivid color – bold red, yellow and green.  Then there’s the texture – the slightly crispy anchovies balancing the sauteed peppers. Finally, there’s the flavor of the mentsuyu (a dashi-based sauce usually used for soba and udon noodles).

Ingredients (serves 2 people)

• 200g green pepper (4-5 green peppers)
• 50g red pepper (1/2 a red pepper)
• 50g yellow pepper (1/2 a yellow pepper)
• 20g dried young anchovies
• 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons of mentsuyu

Method

Pour 2 tablespoons of sesame oil into a frying pan and place on a low heat. Add the dried young anchovies and slowly saute them for 3-4 minutes, so that they become crispy.

Cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds, then slice them into strips. When the anchovies become crispy, add the peppers to the pan and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes over a high heat.

Finally, add two tablespoons of mentsuyu and coat the peppers. If you live in Japan, you should be able to find this at any supermarket or convenience store.

If you live overseas and have trouble finding the sauce, however, add the following to the fry pan:

• 2 tablespoons of dashi soup (or water)
• 1 tablespoon of sake
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of mirin

It’s also worth noting that were you to make 2-3 times the sauce, you would have the perfect soup for soba or udon noodles.