Sempio Spicy Small Octopus BokkEum

This is stir-fried spicy octopus dish is made using Sempio’s mokpo octopus sauce. Many Korean dishes, especially soups and stews, ask for many different kinds of seasoning ingredients. Because of that, those Korean foods are more difficult to make to get the right flavor; getting the right amount of each seasoning ingredient is the secret for making good dishes. When I feel lazy, or do not have enough time to cook, it is nice to have pre-made sauces on hand. I made this octopus dish and ate it with some of my Korean friends for lunch. They all enjoyed it a lot. If I did not tell them, they would not have known that I used a pre-made sauce. 😉 For extra flavor, I added a little bit of sugar, and it turned out very delicious.

Yield: 2-3 Servings

Short Korean Lesson

• NakJi (낙지) = Small Octopus
• MunEo (문어) = Octopus

Video Instructions

Main Ingredients

• 1 lb Small Octopus
• 1 Pack Sempio Mokpo Octopus Sauce
• 3 Tbsp Flour
• 1 Cup Onion
• 1 Cup Cabbage
• ½ Cup Carrot
• ⅛ Cup Red Hot Pepper
• 2 Green Onions
• 2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
• 1 Tbsp Garlic
• Some Sugar (Optional)
• Some Sesame Seeds (Garnish)

Directions

Obtain 1 pound of small octopus. Mine was frozen, so I thawed it first. Then removed the guts and wash it good.

Rub the washed and drained octopus with about 3 Tbsp of flour to get rid of the dirt in the suckers for 30 seconds. Wash the octopus in cold water several more times.

Obtain the veggie ingredients. Slice 1 cup worth of an onion into ½ inch pieces, cut 1 cup worth of a cabbage into bite sized pieces, and chop ½ cup worth of a carrot diagonally. Cut ⅛ cup worth of red hot pepper thinly and 2 green onions into 1 inch pieces.

Cook the octopus in boiling water for 10 seconds. By boiling the octopus in boiling water for short time, you reduce the time needed for frying the octopus later, and you will get less liquid in your dish. That is what I prefer for my octopus dish. However, if you are not that particular, you can also skip this step and just fry the octopus raw later.

Add 1 Tbsp of finely chopped garlic in a heated pan with 2 Tbsp of cooking oil. Fry for 5 seconds on high. This will give extra flavor to the dish. 😉

Add the chopped vegetables such as onion, carrot, and cabbage into the pan and fry for 2 minutes on medium-high.

2 minutes later, add one pack of Sempio mokpo octopus sauce. Mix the sauce with the vegetables.

Chop the boiled octopus into bite sized pieces and add to the pan. Fry for about 5 minutes on high.

Then add the chopped green onions and red hot pepper to the pan. Taste it, depending on your taste, you can add a little bit of sugar as I did. Fry one more minute and turn off the heat.

 

Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top before serving. This shiny red octopus dish will make you hungry just by looking at it. Try it someday. 🙂