When the weather is cold, there are some Korean foods I get hungry for. This octopus kimchi juk is one of the hot foods I enjoyed eating a lot in Korea. The porridge restaurant called “BonJuk” serves many different kinds of tasty porridge. My all-time favorite from that restaurant was definitely octopus kimchi porridge. I love seafood and I also love kimchi.. so it would make sense why I like that porridge so much. 🙂 Anyway, since I no longer can order that delicious porridge here in America, I had to make it at home for myself. I am very satisfied with the outcome. So, here I will share my hearty and savory porridge recipe with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Yield: 1-2 Servings
Short Korean Lesson
- NakJi (낙지) = Octopus
- MunEo (문어) = Octopus
Video Instructions
Main Ingredients:
- 2½ Cups Water
- 1½ Cups Cooked Rice
- 1 Cup Well Fermented Kimchi
- ⅔ Cup Octopus (6 oz)
- ¼ Cup Onion
- ¼ Cup Seasoned and Roasted Dried Laver (2 Tbsp per Serving)
- 2 Tbsp Green Onion + Extra Green Onion (for Garnish)
- 1 Tbsp Red Hot Pepper for Garnish (Optional)
- 1 tsp Sesame Seeds
Seasoning Ingredients:
- ¼ Cup Kimchi Broth
- 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil (Some Extra Sesame Oil for Garnish)
- 1 Tbsp Hot Pepper Powder
- ½ Tbsp Fish Sauce
- ½ tsp Garlic, Minced
Directions
As today’s main ingredient, prepare about ⅔ cup of octopus (6 oz). They are 2 small octopuses. If you don’t like octopus or don’t have it, you can also use shrimp, ground meat (pork, beef, chicken, etc), squid, or any other seafood you like.
Rinse them well and cut them into ½ inch little chunks. (To protect your eyes, I will skip showing you the process I chop the octopus. 😉🤣)
We also need to chop 1 cup worth of well fermented kimchi into a similar size as the octopus along with ¼ cup of an onion.
For flavoring and garnishing, finely chop 2 Tbsp of green onion and 1 Tbsp of red hot pepper.
In a preheated pot with 1 Tbsp of sesame oil, add the green onion and fry for 30 seconds on medium high. This green onion oil will give good flavor to the porridge.
After 30 seconds, add the kimchi and the onion. Fry them for about 3 minutes on medium-high.
After 3 minutes, pour 2½ cups of water into the pot. You can use some homemade vegetable or anchovy broth instead of water, but water can make it easier. Bring it back to a boil.
Get 1½ cups of cooked rice. This recipe is a nice way to use up some of your leftover rice.
For the seasoning ingredients, we will need ¼ cup of Kimchi broth, 1 Tbsp of hot pepper powder, ½ Tbsp of fish sauce, and ½ tsp of minced garlic.
Once the broth starts to boil, add the prepared rice into the broth.
Stir it well until the rice gets mixed into the broth and is no longer in chunks.
Now, add the octopus and all the seasoning ingredients except for the sesame oil. Cook for about 8 minutes on medium.
Crush about 2 Tbsp worth of seasoned and roasted dried laver in a zipper bag. If you like this a lot, you can have more for this recipe.
After 8 minutes, all the ingredients will be cooked beautifully. Let’s serve it.
Put the right amount of the porridge in your bowl and drizzle a little bit of sesame oil. Finally, garnish the porridge with some of the red hot pepper, green onion, and the dried laver. It is so colorful and pretty.
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