Spicy Stir Fried Squid is a simple dish packed with sweet and spicy flavors. It pairs well with rice for a delicious lunch or beer for a good time munchie!
Ojingeo Bokkeum is essentially squid that’s been stir-fried with vegetables and a sweet and spicy sauce. It’s spicy, savory, and sweet–a perfect balance of all flavors! Additionally, if you use a wok or blow torch, it also becomes smoky which elevates a super simple dish.
What I love about this is that when you pair it with rice and drizzle that fiercely red and thick sauce, it will definitely make you get another bowl! This is very similar to my favorite Spicy Dried Squid but this uses fresh squid!
Ingredients for Spicy Stir Fried Squid
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- Whole Squid – For convenience, I recommend using frozen, cleaned, and whole squid. This helps home cooks skip the risk of getting a bad batch of squid and/or the need to clean it. I prefer the whole over the pre-chopped ones because chopped ones tend to be more watery. I got my squid from HMart Online!
- Vegetables – For this dish, I used a combination of garlic, scallion, onion, cabbage, and carrots for the aroma and fresh flavors of the dish.
- Jalapeno Peppers – This is optional if you want more spice.
Ojingeo Bokkeum Sauce
- Korean Red Pepper Paste – The base of the sauce, for the spice and savor.
- Korean Red Pepper Flakes and Pepper Powder – This is an additional spice but the flakes will add a bit of sweet and smoky flavor, while the powder will add a fiercely red color.
- Soy Sauce – For a boost in umami.
- Sesame Oil and Sesame Seeds – For a nutty and earthy finish that will complement the pepper paste and soy sauce.
- Sugar – To balance the spice and savor.
- Plum Extract or Apple Juice – This is my secret! The acidity will balance everything out. Put only a little, it will do its job but you won’t really taste it.
How to Make Ojingeo Bokkeum?
Prepare the Ingredients: Chop the squid into strips and if you notice that it’s still dripping excess water, leave it in a strainer to help it drain. Similarly chop the scallions, onion, cabbage, and carrots into strips so everything is easy to scoop with a chopstick. Lastly, mince garlic and a bit of scallion for the aromatics. Make sure all the seasonings are ready.
Saute the Squid: Put the pan on high heat, add a bit of oil, and saute the minced garlic and scallions until fragrant. Add the squid and saute it for 2-3 minutes until purplish-pink and slightly cooked.
Add the Vegetables: As the squid cooks, add the cabbage, onion, carrots, scallions, and jalapeño peppers, and continue to stir fry for 2-3 minutes. This combination will render a bit of water, so keep the heat high to cook it quickly and to help reduce the rendered liquid.
Season the Squid: Push the ingredients to the side and season with pepper paste, pepper flakes, pepper powder, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and plum extract. Mix the sauce with the excess liquid on the pan so it loosens up.
Stir Fry the Squid: Once the sauce is loose, stir fry it with the squid and vegetables for 2-3 minutes until everything is coated with the sauce. If you have a blow torch, torch the squid as you stir fry to give it that “bulmat” or smoky flavor. Be careful as you handle this.
Serve: Plate, top with sesame seeds, and serve with hot rice and/or beer. All that sauce will be super delicious with the rice!
Cooking Tips:
- The most important thing to note in this dish is that the squid may render a lot of water as you cook. To counter this, you need to use high heat so that you can quickly cook the dish and that any excess water can also quickly evaporate.
- In line with that, prepare all the ingredients and seasonings ahead so you can move quickly. The longer the squid cooks, the more likely it will water down or even toughen up texture-wise.
- If you see that in the first stir fry of the squid, it has quickly rendered a lot of water, feel free to drain it before adding the vegetables and seasonings.
- Use a wok if you have one for an additional smoky flavor, if not, a blow torch will also do the job, but be careful in handling it!
- This dish is highly customizable! You can add as much spice according to your preference, you can also use chicken or mushroom in place of squid.
Other Korean stir-fried dishes you might like:
Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!
Spicy Stir Fried Squid (Ojingeo Bokkeum)
Equipment
- Wok Optional
- Blow Torch As an alternative to wok
Ingredients
- 350 grams Frozen Whole Squid Chopped into strips
- 200 grams Cabbage Strips
- 100 grams Onion Strips
- 25 grams Carrots Julienne
- 1 pc Jalapeño Peppers Chopped, Optional
- 2 stalks Scallions 1 stalk cut into 3-inch pieces, 1 stalk chopped
- 1 tbsp Canola or Vegetable Oil For stir-frying
- 2 tbsp Korean Red Pepper Paste
- 1 tbsp Korean Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 tbsp Korean Red Pepper Powder
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1/2 tbsp Sesame Seeds
- 1/2-1 tbsp Plum Juice or Apple Juice
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients by mincing the garlic and a bit of scallion, chopping the squid, onion, cabbage, carrots, and scallions into strips. Chop jalapeño if you prefer it to be spicier. Prepare all the seasonings as well.
- Heat up the pan, add a bit of oil, and saute the garlic and chopped scallions until fragrant.
- Add the squid and saute them for a couple of minutes until it turns purplish-pink.
- Add the vegetables and saute it all together for a couple of minutes.
- Push the squid and vegetables to the side and season with gochujang, pepper flakes, pepper powder, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, sesame seeds, and plum juice on the side.
- Mix the sauce with the rendered water from the squid and vegetables. Do this until it loosens up, then stir-fry the sauce with the squid and veggies.
- Torch the squid for a couple of minutes while stir-frying. Be careful in handling this!
- Finish with some sesame seeds, serve with rice, and enjoy!
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