Seafood Stir-fry
A lovely Korean spicy seafood dish -- spicy, sweet, salty, and absolutely delicious. The key to this dish is the sauce, which is thick and intensely savory. You can really add whatever ingredients you want to this dish and it will likely taste good. Try it with whatever vegetables you have on hand (as long as they'll keep their shape). It's traditionally made with octopus, in which case you'll probably need to do some additional work to make it tender. But it works just as well with whatever seafood you have on hand.
Active Time: 25 min
Total Time: 25 min
Ingredients
> seafood (1 lb)
> carrot (1)
> green onion (3 stalks)
> onion (1/2)
> red bell pepper (1/2)
> garlic, minced (3 cloves)
> ginger, minced (1g)
> gochujang (3 tbsp)
> gochugaru (2 tbsp)
> soy sauce (1.5 tbsp)
> sake (1 tbsp)
> sugar (1 tbsp)
> honey (1.5 tbsp)
> sesame oil
> sesame seeds
> neutral oil
Instructions
1. Thinly slice carrots, onions, and red bell peppers into approximately sliver shapes. Cut green onion into 2 inch pieces.
2. Mix together the gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, sake, sugar, and honey to make the sauce.
3. In a large wok with plenty of neutral oil, stir-fry onions for a couple of minutes over medium-high heat. Then add the green onion, carrot, red bell pepeprs, garlic, and ginger. Stir-fry for a couple more minutes.
4. Add the seafood and sauce, and continue stir-frying for ~4-8 minutes, or until the seafood is fully cooked through.
5. Add a bit of sesame oil, stir one last time, serve, and top with sesame seeds.
Notes/Tips:
> Feel free to use any seafood in this stir-fry. I believe this dish is traditionally made with octopus. The variant I had at Anytime NYC had a bit of everything -- octopus, squid, shrimp, and clams. I used squid rings in this case. In retrospect, I probably would have chosen smaller squid rings because the size of these made them somewhat unwieldy to eat. Adjust the recipe according to the seafood that you're using so that it cooks in the right amount of time. Consider adding it earlier or parcooking it if it needs to cook for longer (which is the case for octopus).
> Similarly, use whatever vegetables you see fit. As long as it can retain its shape fairly well it's a reasonable candidate. This is a great way to use up leftover vegetables. The variant I had at Anytime NYC used zucchini, onion, and bean sprouts.
> I usually aim for a somewhat thick sauce after the dish is done. You may want to adjust the amount of watery liquids in the sauce and cooking time to achieve this.
> A core concept in Chinese cooking is to make all ingredients in a dish similar in shape / size, so that it is comfortable to eat with chopsticks. The same rule applies here. I'd recommend something like a thick julienne for all of your side ingredients. Or if you're using smaller, more square shaped seafood, maybe flat square shaped cuts.