Spicy Fried Squid (oh jing aeo chae bok keum – 오징어체볶음)

Often referred to as cuttlefish in America, squid is eaten in many forms in Korea. This is a wonderful tasty banchan to accompany rice. If your not a fan of seafood as all, perhaps wait a bit to try this one; however, this has only a very mild seafood taste, a little bit spicy while not overpowering, with a touch of a nutty flavor when garnished with sesame seeds.

Time:

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time: 5-10 minutes
Total Time: ~15-25 minutes

Ingredients:

2 big handfuls of fried Squid (oh jing aeo chae – 오징어채)*
3 Tbsp of red pepper paste (go chu jang – 고추장)
2 Tbsp of Simple Sugar or oligosaccharide (o li go dang – 올리고당)
1 Tbsp of Korean Soy Sauce (gan jang – 간장 )
1 Tbsp of Korean Cooking Wine (mat sul – 맛술)
1/2 Tbsp of minced garlic (da jin ma neul – 다진 마늘)
2 tsp of Mayonnaise (ma yo nae juh – 마요네즈)

* NOTE: Adjust the recipe to match how much squid you buy. Different stores will have different sizes. For example, my 1 pound bag in the picture below was a bit more than the “2 handful” standard, so I made a 1.5x batch.

For more information about ingredients please see my ingredient page for detailed information

Categories:

Long-term Banchan
Sweet
Medium Spicy
Quick & Easy
Exotic Ingredients

The product you find in the store should resemble this. It seems that squid is a dirty word in America, so to soften the blow “cuttlefish” is used instead. Aren’t the little squiddys cute? The product you find should already have sugar and salt in it. This product, “Asshi”-brand, is an American brand. It’s all my Korean mart had, although if I had the choice I would have chosen a different brand from Korea. This worked out will however.
Rinse the squid in lukewarm water for just half a minute of so, it doesn’t need to be very salty.
The pieces can be a bit long straight out of the package, so take scissors and cut them roughly into pieces 2-3 inches long.
In a medium sized container, scoop out the red pepper paste.
Add the soy sauce, oligosaccharide, and cooking wine.
Mix in the minced garlic.
Put the mixture in a deep dish frying pan (in this case I used a frying pot) and bring the mixture just to a slight boil.
Add the squid that you rinsed and cut into the pan/pot and start to fry.
As you are frying add the mayonnaise and keep stirring.
Fry the product over medium-high heat until the liquid is reduced to the amount shown below. Not to wet, not too dry.
After frying, mix in the sesame seed salt, and store in a secure container in the fridge.
NOTE: To ensure that your banchan lasts a long time in the refrigerator, make sure you read the comments and instructions on my “The Banchan Plan” page. This is long-term banchan, so make sure you are careful when serving and make sure to limit the amount of time exposed to air and/or out of the refrigerator.