Haemul Bokkeum - Seafood Stir Fry

After realizing that we had been frequenting Korean restaurants a bit too often, we rustled up some confidence to attempt this hitherto untried cuisine at home. Obviously, this meant that a visit to a Korean grocery store was in order. Finding a branch of 'Han Ah Reum' a.k.a. "H-Mart" - an American-Korean chain was the first step. Thankfully, we found one not too far away and hopped over in search of some basic korean ingredients. While we were quite experienced traversing grocery aisles in Chinese stores like Kan Man and Gold City, this was a bit different. It had lots of those smiley face icons with 'Hello Kitty' and toy robot like 'Manga' cartoon faces staring up from package covers of assorted shrimp crackers and sweet cookies and assorted bean paste filled snacks. And of course there was the Banchan (or 'panchan' as it is sometimes pronounced) - traditional small plate side dishes accompanying every meal in Korean restaurants" pre-packaged and on offer in the refrigerated section. Usually, we love it so much, we end up finishing the Banchan before the main dish arrives on our table :-) Much as it was difficult to avoid going overboard with Banchan shopping, we restricted ourselves to 3 small tubs.. boiled fermented black beans with sesame seeds (Image:top right), a baby clam Kimchi (Image:bottom right) and a stir-fried fish cake with chillies, green pepper, onion and carrots ('Uhmook Bokkeum') (Image:bottom left). Then, we strolled through the spice aisle looking for "Gochujang" - a savory and pungent fermented condiment made with red chili powder, glutinous rice powder mixed with powdered fermented Soybean and salt. (Image:top left).


Last but not the least, we equipped ourselves with a pack of mixed seafood comprising of clams, squid and shrimp.
We put together a quick stir fry and the recipe follows:

The sauce

3 tbsp Gochujang paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar (or regular vinegar or 'Sake')
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chilli-oil (sesame oil infused with red chilli)
1/4 cup water

Main Ingredients
Ginger (1 tbsp)
Garlic (3 cloves)
1 Onion-thick slices or petals
1 cup broccoli crowns (steamed for just about 30 seconds in microwave)
1/4 cup green pepper slices
1/4 cup red pepper slices
Mix seafood pack or about 200 grams shrimp / boneless chicken
1 tblspoon toasted sesame seeds

Method

Heat oil and stir in finely chopped ginger, finely chopped garlic, onions , brocolli, green and red pepper slices stir frying for a minute. Add thawed seafood (after patting it dry). Stir fry the mix for a couple of minutes. Avoid overcooking the seafood which can turn chewy if overdone or the vegetables which should retain their crunch.

Meanwhile, reduce the sauce by cooking it on high flame for about couple of minutes.

Stir in the reduced sauce and continue cooking for a minute to just lightly coat the vegetables and seafood. Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds over and serve with hot boiled white rice.