Dishes Featuring

Broccoli (1) Garlic (1) Gochujang (1) Kimbap (1) Octopus (1) Rice (1) Sesame Seeds (1) Soy Sauce (1)

I ate well

Monday, February 22, 2010

Gochujang Octopus (K/G)imbap: Pt. 1 The Octoprep

 
This my friends, is gochujang octopus kimbap.
This is how to make it.

First the octopus.

This is what you will need, we have (from left to right); frozen broccoli florets (stems are for the poor), frozen octopus, roasted sesame seeds, reduced sodium soy sauce (do you REALLY need more salt?) and, some of my favourite gochujang (as all gochujangs are not created equal I highly endorse this brand). The only ingredients not shown are Garlic and a liquid sugar product you will see a couple shots down. This is not really necessary and you can sub it out for plain ol' sugar.
Before you begin, this recipe is spread into two posts as each post is a dish in itself. If you choose to make the whole thing (gochujang octopus kimbap) try to make the kimbap and octopus simultainiously as this will result in optimum deliciousness.
Right. So here we have some broccoli, octopus, a bit of water (both the octopus and broccoli are still frozen thus will give off some water as well), about 3 cloves of garlic, a big dash of sesame seed and a heaping tablespoon of gochujang. The exact quantities are up to you, the flavours go together pretty easily but I would warn that if you cant take hot, go sparingly with the gochujang. Also later on we will boil down the mix so be don't be too generous with the water.
So I've turned on the heat about half way, and am gently stirring the gochujang into the water.
The more octopi the merrier I always say. Give it a taste, what do you think it needs?
 
For me it wasn't sweet enough. I'm adding in this liquid sugar/fructose slurry that I happened to have in the cupboard. This product is made specifically for cooking dishes like this. If you choose to, I'd recommend adding sugar (the real stuff) when the dish is hot as to help it dissolve. Still about halfway with the heat. The octopi and broccoli should still be somewhat frozen when the liquidreaches a boil.
Now that we have a good base and the quantities are right we're going to start to boil it down. Crank the heat up to about 8 (out of 10) and start stirring occasionally. If you let it sit you will have a nice burnt sugar crust of the bottom of you pan and a dish that tastes similar.
 They see me boilin... Im stirrin...
 
You should be stirring regularly now that its getting boiling down.

 
This is where we want to be. Remove the pan from heat and let it rest on a spare burner. The liquid will further condense as it cools, which we want. At this point you can scrap the kimbap altogether and just throw what you've made onto some rice for some serious deliciousness. I usually make extra for this reason.

So lets pretend you've prepared the Kimbap to where you are ready to add the octopus.

Spoon out the broccoli and dice into 1cm chunks. We're not slicing up the octopus because it should have shrank quite a bit as we cooked. If not, dice along side its broccoli bredren.
 
Kinda like this. Next, return to and mix with the octopus in the still warm pan.

  
Okay, that about wraps up the prep for the octopus. From here you can move on to finishing your awesome kimbap...

 
...or have some lunch.


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