Squid in Korean food
Squid (오징어)
Squid, ojingeo in Korean, is one of the most common seafoods in Korean cooking. It turns up in seafood mixes, spicy stir-fries, dried side dishes and salted jeotgal, often without squid in the dish name.
Where it hides in Korean food
When a dish name starts with haemul, meaning seafood, squid is one of the most likely things in it. Haemul pajeon, a seafood green onion pancake, usually has strips of squid along with shrimp, and haemultang, a spicy seafood stew, often has squid with crab and clams. Jjamppong, a Korean-Chinese noodle soup, commonly has squid and mussels, and seafood versions of jajangmyeon, japchae and budae jjigae often add squid too.
Ojingeo bokkeum, squid stir-fried in a spicy gochujang or chili powder sauce, is a common dish at snack shops and home-style set meal restaurants. Ojingeo deopbap puts it over rice. Osam bulgogi stir-fries squid with pork belly, and the o at the start of the name comes from ojingeo. It is closely linked to Gangwon, the east coast province.
Dried squid is common too. Jinmichae, dried squid torn into thin shreds, is stir-fried sweet with soy sauce and syrup or mixed spicy with gochujang, and it often appears as a side dish in restaurants and in convenience store lunch boxes. Dried squid is a typical snack with drinks, butter-grilled squid is sold at cinemas and street stalls, and food stands also sell squid battered and deep fried.
Ojingeo jeot is thinly sliced squid salted and fermented, then seasoned red with chili powder, and it is served as a side dish with rice or drinks. In Sokcho on the east coast, ojingeo sundae is a squid body stuffed with a filling and steamed, then sliced like a sausage. Cuttlefish, called gap-ojingeo, and hanchi, a squid caught around Jeju, go by their own names on menus, so if squid affects you, ask about them as well.
Dishes that contain it
Sometimes in it
- Budae-jjigae (army base stew)Seafood budae-jjigae simmers squid with the ham.
- BulgogiOsam bulgogi stir-fries squid with pork in a chili paste sauce.
- Haemul-pajeon (seafood scallion pancake)Squid is one of the most common seafood in the mix, cut into strips and fried into the batter.
- Jajangmyeon (black bean noodles)Squid is the seafood most often stir-fried into the jajang sauce when a shop makes a seafood version, and some shops add it to the regular sauce too.
- JapchaeSeafood japchae also adds blanched squid to the noodles.
- Sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew)Squid is listed among the seafood that can go into the pot along with clams and shrimp.
Based on the 20 dishes this site has researched. Dishes not listed here can contain it too.