Dried Anchovies

❷ These reach Chinese and other food shops in London and New York, usually in plastic packets labelled llkan Bilis’ (ikan is fish). This tends to be used as a catch-all name for several species of small, silvery fish (which might equally well be called whitebait), caught in huge shoals off tropical coasts and dried and salted whole. In Malaysia they are often added to curries, but elsewhere they are deep-fried and used as a garnish.