I love squid. I love buying squid at the market. I love coming home and cleaning the squid – taking out the backbone, cleaning the cavity, but most of all I love squeezing out the eyes and beak.

Are you recoiling in horror? LOL. 

Yes I know I sound a bit mad, but you see, when I was 10, I told my mother that I wanted to learn to cook. My mom said sure, she would teach me, but before I could learn to cook, I had to clean to clean the food we had bought from the market.

Fair enough, I thought.

So every week, I would clean 2kg each of prawns and squid (my dad ate a lot of seafood), and god knows how many kilograms of fish. It was many years later that I found out that I was doing all the tasks that my mom hated – yep, I was basically a FOC child laborer. 😀

The thing though is, I found (and still do) cleaning seafood a really enjoyable task. So, really, we were both winners since my mom got a break from something she didn’t want to do and I got to do something I enjoy!

Anyway, enough prattling. Let us get on with this dish I cooked for dinner last night. I did a Korean stir-fry. I love stir-fries because they are so quick and easy. This is a spicy stir-fry because of the addition of kochugaru. You can adjust the amount of kochugaru to suit your preference and since I like things quite spicy, I added quite a bit.

This is a great main dish – you only need to cook rice and you have dinner! It can also be served as a side dish. You can also replace the squid with chicken, or pork or beef or even fishcake. 

To cook this, start by sauteing onion, carrot and zucchini in hot vegetable oil.

Once the vegetables have softened, transfer them into a bowl. Set this aside.

In the same skillet, add a little more oil. Saute garlic for 20 seconds, then add kochugaru.

Cook this over low heat for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly before turning up the heat and adding the squid.

Stir-fry the squid until the squid pieces start to curl (2-3 minutes).

Return the vegetables into the skillet. Add light soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar (or honey).

Toss to mix. Season with salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Turn off the heat.

Add chopped spring onion and roasted sesame seeds. Serve immediately, with rice.

This is a spicy dish, with a hint of sweetness and super yummy slightly chewy squid. 

I really dig this. 🙂

I am honored to be selected to be Singapore Mom Bloggers – Featured Blogger of the Week!

ojingeo bokkeum (오징어볶음) | korean-style stir-fried squid

2015-01-18 19:03:28

Serves 4

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Ingredients

1. 2 tablespoons canola or grape seed oil
2. 1 carrot, cut into batons
3. 1 onion, sliced
4. ½ zucchini, cut into batons
5. 1 garlic clove, minced
6. 1½–2 tablespoons kochugaru
7. 2 fresh calamari or squid, cleaned and cut into bite-size pieces
8. 1–2 tablespoons soy sauce
9. 1½–2 tablespoons sugar - I used 1 tablespoon honey
10. 1 teaspoons sesame oil
11. 2 spring onions, finely sliced
12. salt and black pepper
13. roasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Start by sauteing onion, carrot and zucchini in hot vegetable oil.
2. Once the vegetables have softened, transfer them into a bowl. Set this aside.
3. In the same skillet, add a little more oil. Saute garlic for 20 seconds, then add kochugaru.
4. Cook this over low heat for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly before adding the squid.
5. Stir-fry the squid until the squid pieces start to curl (2-3 minutes).
6. Return the vegetables into the skillet. Add light soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar (or honey).
7. Toss to mix. Season with salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Turn off the heat.
8. Add chopped spring onion and roasted sesame seeds. Serve immediately, with rice.

Adapted from SBS Food

Adapted from SBS Food

The Domestic Goddess Wannabe http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/