Spicy stir fried squid

Today I’m going to introduce you to a simple, flavorful seafood dish called ojingeo-bokkeum. It’s spicy Korean stir-fried squid, one of my all-time favorite dishes. It’s easy to make that if you do it once you’ll probably be able to make for the rest of your life! : )

This recipe is very special to me because it’s the first one I ever shared on YouTube, on April 9, 2007. I filmed it with a very simple point-and-shoot camera (Sony Cybershot DSCW50) so the quality is not very good, and I used music that was protected by copyright, which YouTube later removed. This video really needed a remake in HD.

I was living in Toronto, Canada at the time, and I never would have known that I would still be cooking Korean food on YouTube so many years later. But I’ve met so many wonderful people around the world through my videos that it’s truly one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.

This dish is incredibly easy to make once you get the ingredients together. I’ve been making it so long I don’t even remember where I learned it! It’s like a part of me. And I don’t remember why I decided to make a video about it except that me and my Korean coworkers used to go to a Korean restaurant all the time in Toronto and eat ojingeo-bokkeum there. They all loved it, but I thought to myself: “Mine is better.”

You can use more or less hot pepper flakes, depending on how spicy you like it, and you could substitute squid for chicken, or even king oyster mushrooms if you’re a vegetarian.

Good luck with making delicious ojingeo-bokkeum!

Ingredients: Serves 2 to 4

• 1 pound cleaned squid, cut into bite size pieces (about 2″ x ½”)
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon potato starch

For seasoning paste:

• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
• 2 teaspoons of sugar

Vegetables:

• 12 green onions, cut into 2 inch long
• 1 green chili pepper, sliced
• 1 medium onion (about 7 ounces), sliced
• 1 small carrot (about ½ cup worth), sliced into thin strips (about 2″ x ½”)

Directions

Make slurry

1. Combine the potato starch and ¼ cup water in a small bowl and mix well.

Make seasoning paste

1. Combine garlic, ginger, soy sauce, hot pepper flakes, and sugar in a bowl and mix well.

Stir fry!

1. Heat up a pan over medium high heat. Add the vegetable oil and stir-fry the onion, carrot, green onion, and green chili pepper for about 7 to 8 minutes until the green onions are wilted and the onion is a little translucent.
2. Add the squid and seasoning paste. Stir fry for a few minutes until the squid turns opaque.
3. Mix in the slurry and cook for 30 seconds.

Serve

1. Serve right away as a side dish for rice.