Chinese Recipes | Cooking Tips | Good Eats

When my friend, WH, first recommended me to use anchovies with spaghetti, I smirked at her suggestion. The first time I used anchovies, I had added salt to my spaghetti as well and ended up eating salty spaghetti.

So I complained to her on her recipe malfunction. And she replied a matter-of-factly: “Do not under-estimate the power of those small fishes! They are in fact quite salty!”

Yes, these little fishes are salty but really tasty. Two pieces are enough for 2 spaghetti servings. WH likes to eat her spaghetti with anchovies and parsley. I need some form of meat, so I added shrimps.

The National Pasta Association offers the following guidelines to guage how much pasta to use:
2 oz. of dry spaghetti = a bunch with diameter of a quarter (a Singapore 20-cent coin) = 1 cup cooked pasta.

Ingredients (for 2 servings):

- 4oz of dry spaghetti
- 10 medium sized shelled shrimp
- salt
- black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 strips of anchovies, from the can
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Method:

1. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. I toss the shrimp in corn starch to seal in the flavor of the shrimps during cooking.

2. Heat up 1 tbsp of oil in a pan. You can also use the olive oil from the canned anchovies, which has lots of flavor.

3. While the oil is being heated up, bring a saucepan of water to a boil and cook the spaghetti according to package directions.

4. Add garlic to the pan. Cook the medium shrimp until they curl up and turn bright orange. Set aside.

5. Using the same pan, mash up the anchovies until a paste forms and heat it for about 3-4 mins.

6. By this time the spaghetti should be cooked. Transfer the spaghetti to the pan and with a pair of tongs, mix well with the anchovy paste. If the spaghetti appears dry, use a spoon to transfer some pasta water into the pan.

7. Add the chopped parsley and mix well.

8. Plate the spaghetti and cooked shrimp. Serves 2 hungry people.