Ojingeo Bokkeum

Korean Spicy Stir-fried Octcopus

Bokkeum is a generic term to refer to a Korean dish made by stir-frying ingredients in a sauce. According to Korean dictionaries, the verb form of bokkeum, "bokkda" means "cooking dried ingredients over heat." However, bokkeum not only refers to dishes made by stir-frying ingredients to a dry state, but also indicates dishes with a thick sauce after cooking. The former is called geonyeol bokkeum (dry stir-fried dishes) and the latter is called seupyeol bokkeum (watery stir-fried dishes) by the literal meaning in Korean.

 

What you need

• 300g/10½oz baby octopus
• ½ tbsp vegetable or arachide oil
• ½ small onion, sliced 
• 1 carrot, sliced in 4 cm pieces
• 5 shiitake mushrooms, stalks removed, sliced thinly
• 2 spring onions, cut in half lengthways 
• 1/4 cucumber, sliced in 4 cm pieces
• 1 small red chilli, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• sprinkle of sesame seeds

And what you need for the paste

• 10g fresh root ginger (grated)
• 3 garlic cloves (grated)
• 2 tsp gochujang (Korean red chilli paste)
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp gochugaru (Korean red chilli powder)
• ½ tsp honey
• 1 tsp mirin

Method

1. Clean and rinse the octopus in cold water.
2. For the spice paste, peel and grate the ginger and put it in a medium bowl with the garlic, chilli paste, soy sauce, chilli powder, golden syrup and mirin. Mix well and then set aside.
3. Heat a medium pan of boiling water, add the octopus to the boiling water and blanch for 1½ minutes, then drain. Put the octopus into a bowl of ice-cold water and drain again once cool. Remove the skin from the octopus. Cut into quarters or just remove the tentacles if very small. Cut into bite-sized pieces.
4. Heat a wok, add the oil and fry the onion for a couple of minutes. Add the octopus and paste to the onions and cook for a minute. Add the mushrooms and carrots, cook for another minute and then add the spring onions, cucumber, chillies and sesame oil. Sprinkle sesame seeds into and over and serve.