Super-Simple “Golden Recipe” for Stir-Fried Webfoot Octopus: “Easy to Make with Ingredients at Home”

Essential ingredients include 800 g of webfoot octopus (frozen webfoot octopus can also be used), zucchini, onion, carrot, green onion, and cheongju or soju. For the stir-fry seasoning, you will need 2 tablespoons of gochujang, 2 tablespoons of red pepper powder, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of cooking wine, and a little pepper.

Optional ingredients include 1 Cheongyang chili pepper and a few sesame seeds. (If you plan to make stir-fried webfoot octopus with soybean sprouts, simply add the sprouts at the end.)

Clean the webfoot octopus thoroughly. Cut the zucchini, onion, and carrot into bite-sized pieces, slice the green onion diagonally, and finely slice the Cheongyang chili pepper.

Lightly blanch the webfoot octopus in boiling water, then drain it in a sieve. Toss the webfoot octopus with the seasoning ingredients. Heat oil in a pan and sauté the onion, carrot, and zucchini, then add the seasoned webfoot octopus, green onion, and Cheongyang chili pepper and stir-fry quickly.

Blanching the webfoot octopus before stir-frying prevents it from releasing water. Put the head portions into boiling water first, then submerge the rest and blanch for about 1–2 minutes, adjusting the time according to size. Do not blanch too many at once; blanch about two at a time. Lightly blanched webfoot octopus is also delicious with vinegared red chili sauce (chojang) or mixed with namul and other vegetables.

Saengsaeng Jeongbotong’s Webfoot Octopus Sauce Recipe

Be sure to prepare curry powder, kelp powder, and shiitake mushroom powder (※ Curry powder – removes the fishy smell of webfoot octopus / Kelp and shiitake mushroom powders – serve as natural seasonings). Mix together 1/3 tablespoon of gochujang, 1/4 tablespoon of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 4 tablespoons of plum extract, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1/3 tablespoon of kelp powder, 1 tablespoon of shiitake mushroom powder, and 1/4 tablespoon of curry powder.

[Fam Times = Kim Min-ji, journalist]