{"id":17602,"date":"2015-06-12T23:35:47","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T21:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=17602"},"modified":"2015-06-13T21:35:28","modified_gmt":"2015-06-13T19:35:28","slug":"korean-squid-with-smoked-streaky-bacon-and-an-indian-touch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=17602","title":{"rendered":"Korean Squid with Smoked Streaky Bacon and an Indian Touch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"squid_porkp\"I grew up ignoring the taste of squid and clearly remember the first time I had it, as an adult. The “honey and garlic” squid was sweet, tender,\u00a0crisp\u00a0and I ordered it many times in a\u00a0Thai restaurant which is now very far away. I fell in love instantly\u00a0and the older I am, the more I am fond of this humble\u00a0seafood representative. Several years ago I learnt how to make\u00a0Korean-style squid with gochujang<\/a> and it used to be my absolute number one until I made\u00a0this dish for the first time. My\u00a0kind friend C. – to whom I will always be extremely grateful \u00a0– told me about\u00a0Spicy Pork and Squid Stir-Fry<\/a>\u00a0she saw at\u00a0Beyond Kimchee<\/a>\u00a0blog. Barely\u00a0looking at the name of the recipe\u00a0I already knew\u00a0I would like it.\u00a0I will not bore you with my detailed impressions. I\u00a0will only say –\u00a0having cooked it at least five times in the past month – that while\u00a0Korean squid alone is excellent, squid with smoked bacon\u00a0is a truly magical invention.<\/p>\n

Apart from the truly revolutionary – at least for me – combination of pork and squid, the presence of Indian spices and of caramel (!) slightly changes the typical Korean flavours, but instead of hiding them, it\u00a0just adds an additional\u00a0dimension of flavours. In short, it’s a unique dish\u00a0for different\u00a0reasons and an exciting new\u00a0squid cooking option.<\/p>\n

Before I pass to the details, I must warn you that, apart from usual slight modifications of ingredients (and changes making\u00a0it a dish for one), I have used\u00a0smoked streaky bacon instead of\u00a0raw pork belly simply because I had lots of it… (but as a big fan of smoked meats, I loved the result). Moreover, since some time ago I had\u00a0stopped using curry powder, I replaced it here with a mixture of Indian spices I use to roast chicken breast for example. Needless to say, I strongly encourage you to visit Beyond Kimchee<\/a> not only to check the original of probably the most original Korean recipe I’ve ever read, but most of all to admire highly\u00a0inspiring and beautifully photographed Korean\u00a0dishes you will find there.<\/p>\n

TIPS: If you have never cooked squid, but found it always unpleasantly tough and rubbery, there might be three reasons for that: either it was cooked a bit too long or not long enough (the cooking time for squid is either very\u00a0short\u00a0or very long, nothing in between!) or… it’s simply not your cup of tea. Many people dislike squid because of its texture – slightly chewy, even if perfectly cooked\u00a0–\u00a0but those who love it, usually appreciate it a lot (I do!). Here squid should be stir-fried very briefly, but if you are a beginner, check\u00a0it\u00a0every 5 seconds because the timing\u00a0depends on the thickness or size of the squid\u00a0as well as the temperature of your pan and it\u00a0overcooks easily.<\/p>\n

Some seasonal suggestions\u00a0posted at the same time in\u00a0previous years…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Okonomiyaki<\/a>
Okonomiyaki with Green Onions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cucumber<\/a>
Cucumber Fried with Perilla (Shiso)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mango<\/a>
Mango and Chilli Sauce<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"Tomato<\/a>
Tomato and Shiso Salad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Chilli<\/a>
Chilli Jelly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Teriyaki<\/a>
Teriyaki Pork Rolls with Shiso and Gochujang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Preparation: about 30 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients (serves one):<\/em><\/p>\n

1 big squid<\/em><\/p>\n

1 small carrot, cut into quarters or thick matchsticks<\/em><\/p>\n

2-3 thin strips of streaky smoked bacon\/smoked pork belly, cut into bite-sized pieces<\/em><\/p>\n

1 small onion, sliced<\/em><\/p>\n

Spicy sauce:<\/em><\/p>\n

1 garlic clove, crushed<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger<\/em><\/p>\n

1\u00a0tablespoon rice wine (I have used sake)<\/em><\/p>\n

1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chilli paste)<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon honey<\/em><\/p>\n

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon sesame oil<\/em><\/p>\n

toasted sesame seeds<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon Korean chilli powder (or another medium hot chilli powder)<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/2 teaspoon turmeric<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/4 teaspoon ground cumin<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/4 teaspoon ground coriander<\/em><\/p>\n

1\u00a0green onion, sliced or the equivalent in chives (this is what I’ve used in the photographed dish)<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon sugar<\/em><\/p>\n

oil<\/em><\/p>\n

First prepare the squid.<\/p>\n

Cut off the squid fins and put them aside.<\/p>\n

Cut the squid tube lengthwise in order to obtain one flat sheet.<\/p>\n

Check if there are any bones to be removed.<\/p>\n

Score it diagonally into a criss-cross pattern (the interior side), then cut\u00a0the whole sheet horizontally in two. Finally cut the two sheets you have obtained\u00a0into 2 cm strips.<\/p>\n

Do the same with the fins.<\/p>\n

Cut the tentacles into bite-sized pieces (I usually cut them in half).<\/p>\n

Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Fry the bacon pieces in a pan until crisp. Remove the excess fat (or not, if you don’t mind!).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Without washing the pan fry the squid pieces until they start curling.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Put them aside.<\/p>\n

Wipe the pan (wash it, if needed), heat 1 teaspoon of oil and stir-fry the carrot and the onion.<\/p>\n

Put them aside.<\/p>\n

Heat the sugar in the same pan and as soon as it starts browning, add quickly all the ingredients you have put aside together with the sauce and green onion.<\/p>\n

Heat everything at high heat, constantly stirring.<\/p>\n

Serve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up ignoring the taste of squid and clearly remember the first time I had it, as an adult. The “honey and garlic” squid…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44,184,33,195],"tags":[12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17602"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17602"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17742,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17602\/revisions\/17742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}