I'm Not Squidding: A Snack Straight from the Sea

It might seem strange at first glance, dried shredded squid ready for you to eat. Not a first-pick for many westerners but shredded squid was first popularized as a snack in Hong Kong during the 1970s. Now, it’s all over the Asia, from China to Singapore, and even in Korea. Over time, they added their own spin to this snack making it uniquely theirs.

Ojingeo-chae (오징어채), as it's called in Korean, is a well-known Anju (안주). A side-dish usually accompanied with alcohol or it can be eaten on its own as a snack but it’s so much more than a simple snack. Ojingeo-chae (오징어채), is also used in many other recipes.

As you know, Ojingeo-chae is dried shredded squid (오징어채) but this time add Bokkeum (볶음) which means a stir-fried dish. Put it together and you get Ojingeo-chae-bokkeum (오징어채볶음). Its essentially stir-fried shredded squid; delicious and quite soft in texture. You just need chili pepper paste known as Gochujang (고추장), garlic, soy sauce, sugar, vegetable oil, and sesame seeds. It varies from recipe to recipe, some may include rice wine. If you want to try making it on your own, Sue from My Korean Kitchen has a recipe on her blog.

What do you call identical squids? Twin-tacles! This next dish, Ojingeo-chae-muchim (오징어채무침), is quite similar to Ojingeo-chae-bokkeum(오징어채볶음). The main difference is the way that it’s cooked and you can see this in the name. Instead of ending with bokkeum (볶음), it ends with muchim (무침) which means a dish that has seasoning mixed in. This makes making these spicy squid strips, quite easy. It’s simple and foolproof! Queen of cooking, Maangchi, has a recipe on her blog.

Head down to your local Korean market and try out some squid. Whether you eat it by itself or make one of these recipes, you’re sure to have to a good time.