Today I’m going to introduce you to a very easy but incredibly addictive side dish. If you love anything a little salty like the sea a little and stinky like squid, you’ll fall in love with ojingeo-silchae-bokkeum (오징어실채볶음), or crunchy squid threads. It’s tastes sweet, crunchy, and a little salty, and once you start eating it, it’s hard to stop!
It’s a very popular side dish for children’s lunch boxes in Korea, and it’s also a great drinking snack, and goes well with beer. As I mention in the video, it was considered a rare treat when I was growing up, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Now I can have it any time I like, and I always get tons of compliments on this simple dish when I serve it to guests.
It’s so simple to make! But so tasty and addicting.
If you have a large Korean store in your area, you might have seen crunchy squid threads sold on the shelf, pre-made and prepackaged. It’s pretty good, but kind of expensive for a frugal cook like me and you. : ) Besides, we can make it better! Instead, buy some dried squid threads and make your own in 5 minutes!
Enjoy the recipe! Let me know if you make it!
Ingredients
- ½ pound (226 grams) dried squid threads (ojingeo-silchae), cut into bite size pieces
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons white or brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Directions
- Heat up a large pan over medium heat. Add the vegetable oil and garlic and stir fry until fragrant.
- Add the squid threads and mix and stir with a wooden spoon and a pair of tongs for a few minutes, until the squid turns a little crunchy and shiny all over.
- Add the soy sauce and sugar and keep mixing and stirring until the sugar is melted and the squid turns a little curly.
- Remove from the heat and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
- Serve as a side dish for rice or with beer. You can keep it in the fridge for up to 1 month.
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
I can’t believe I made this myself, instead of buying it packaged. You were right about it being better, but you are wrong about it being more economical–because I eat twice as much.
Let me start by saying that not enough credit has been given to this dish. First of all, the odor when cooking is similar to cooking cod fish and doesn’t stay long in the house. The squid (straight out of the bag) taste like swiss cheese then changes once you begin chewing into a sweet flavor like crab meat or shrimp family.
The recipe is very easy and only minutes to make. I will suggest that when cooking you must keep on mixing the squid in order to mix thoroughly the ingredients to cover it completely. This plate taste good straight out of the pan but gets better and better the colder it gets. Even putting this in a ziploc bag in the fridge, the next day was even better and tasted like it came out of a store bought bag with flavor.
I love your description about what it tastes like! : ) That’s right!
Hi! Love your recipes!
Can cuttle fish threads be substituted for squid threads?
Haven’t been able to find squid threads in Honolulu but found cuttle fish threads in Las Vegas.
Didn’t realize it should be squid until I got home.
Same thing