Ikan bilis is already dried, so a pack can be kept in a cool dry area for up to 1-2 years (by use-by-date) or I usually keep them in the fridge or freezer. They will last for quite a while.

Use it as stock for babies when they first starting solid

When my children started solids, I used to cook porridge for them using ikan bilis as stock for the added sweetness. For example – pork porridge, I would boil the ikan bilis in the water together with rice. Once the rice had softened, I would add some pork fillet and vegetables, such as broccoli or cauliflower and carrots.

When all ingredients are cooked and softened, remove the anchovies and then blend the porridge. I use this method for fish porridge as well. This way, there is no need to further add salt or any flavouring to the porridge, as the dried anchovies have some salt from the preservation stage, and they also provide the sweetness/ umami flavour for the porridge.

In my family or mostly in Malaysia, we usually use ikan bilis as stock or deep fry them and serve as a crunchy topping, or eat them whole with sambal in nasi lemak.  As for stock, instead of using chicken/meat bones, we substitute ikan bilis as an alternate source of protein and umami flavour.

I use ikan bilis as stock over here in Australia most of the times, especially for a steamboat stock. The reason is that it is less oily, and we will be adding meat and seafood to the steamboat later on anyway.