Korean Spicy Squid Stir Fry

Korean Spicy Squid Stir Fry

2012, My Mom

If there is anything that I have learned growing up in the kitchen of a Korean household, it is that cooking is not an exact science. As clichéd as that sounds, all that one would have to do to figure this out for themselves is to walk through the door into the house of any Korean family’s kitchen and watch them cook. For this reason, it was a little bit difficult for me to put this recipe together. I am grateful towards my mom for not kicking me out of the kitchen the minute I started following her around and forcing her to take approximate measurements of what she was doing. Surprisingly, she was very compliant with my demands and even enthusiastically helped me arrange ingredients to make them look presentable.

Much of Korean cooking involves cooking in bulk. A lot of food is made at one time and leftovers are eaten sparingly over the next couple of days. This recipe, however, was actually of a dish that was brought over for the Thanksgiving dinner that just went by (which, by the way, is always an awesome fusion of over 15 dishes of Canadian and Korean descent) and so is a particularly large recipe. It could easily be tailored to fit a smaller quantity, however.

Ingredients

• 400 g Baby Cuttlefish
• 2 Large Squids
• 4 Small Assorted Bell Peppers
• 2 Yellow Onions
• 5 Korean Jalapeno Peppers
• Lots of Mushrooms
• 6 Bunches of Green Onion
• 5 Cloves of Garlic
• 5 “Slices” of Ginger
• 6 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 5 Tablespoons Gochujang
• 2 Tablespoons Korean Hot Pepper Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Honey
• 1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
• Sesame Seeds (Optional)

Directions

Place a pot of water on the stove and set the heat to high.

Gut your squid, peel off its skin and cut it carefully into bite-sized pieces. The cuttlefish should already be appropriately sized.

Next, chop your bell peppers, green onions, yellow onions, jalapenos, and mushrooms.

At this point, the water should be boiling (just look at all the vegetables you chopped). Add a generous amount of salt to the pot. Then, place the cuttlefish and squid into the boiling water for approximately 30 seconds until they turn slightly opaque. Immediately remove them from the pot and run them under some cold water. Set aside.

Combine the soysauce, gochujang, hot pepper powder, black pepper, honey, oyster sauce, and sesame oil into a bowl.

“Mash” the garlic and ginger together to release flavour.  ”More taste than grind machine”. Combine with other wet ingredients.

Add olive oil to a pan and bring it up to medium heat. Add the peppers, yellow onions, jalapenos and mushrooms. Sauté the vegetables for a few minutes until they are slightly translucent. Add the seafood into the pan along with the sauce. Cook for another 5-7 minutes.

Toss in the green onions and finish the dish off with sesame seeds.

Serve and enjoy!

Let me know in the comments below if you would like to see more Korean recipes.

If you are looking for some stores to buy Korean ingredients, I recommend:

88 Mart : 101-1855 Pembina Highway, Winnipeg, MB

Arirang Oriental Food Mart : 1799 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB

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