12 recipes. Page 1 of 1
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Start with recipes grouped by cooking time and how they fit the meal.
There is no boiling of octopus here: it is bought already cooked. Diced as small as the carrot and zucchini, it waits until the rice has fully softened, since a long simmer from the start would make it tough.
The octopus is already boiled, so the pan only has to warm it through and coat it in gochujang sauce. The heat goes off the moment it starts to visibly shrink, and the onion and carrot are left a little underdone so they keep some crunch.
Each cup of the takoyaki pan gets octopus plus chopped kimchi and scallion. Sauce, mayonnaise, and bonito flakes still go on top as usual, but the kimchi comes through underneath, sour and hot.
Minced garlic warms in olive oil over low heat until it turns pale gold, and only then does the heat go up for the boiled octopus. Three to four minutes in the pan browns the edges while the pieces stay springy. Paprika powder in place of the chili flakes makes a milder version.
Holding the whole octopus by the head and dipping it into boiling water two or three times makes the legs curl inward into a neat shape for slicing and serving. Before that, coarse salt is rubbed firmly between the suckers to strip the slime; without that step an off smell lingers after cooking. It cooks for only about 15 minutes over a bed of radish and green onion, then rests under the lid, which keeps it chewy without turning tough. The water is kept at a quiet simmer the whole time, since a rolling, splashing boil makes octopus tougher. Instead of a spicy dipping sauce, slices are dipped in sesame oil mixed with salt, letting the octopus taste of the sea, and the plate works just as well with drinks.
Thin slices of boiled octopus sit on chilled buckwheat noodles dressed in chogochujang, gochujang loosened with vinegar and sugar into a sweet, sour, spicy sauce. Already cooked, the octopus mainly needs patting dry so the sauce clings instead of sliding off. Shredded cabbage and perilla leaves under the noodles add crunch and an herbal note, and only half the sauce is tossed in at first so the rest can season the bowl just before eating.
Pre-cooked octopus is patted dry and seared hard over high heat so the outside turns chewy, then tossed with penne in a tomato cream sauce warmed up with gochugaru (Korean chili flakes). The sauce fills the tubes of the penne, so every forkful with a piece of octopus brings plenty of it along.
Octopus that has already been boiled goes into a very hot pan for 2 to 3 minutes without turning, picking up a charred edge while the inside stays pleasantly chewy. The vinegar dressing, with gochugaru and garlic, starts sour and finishes with gentle heat. Minari, Korean water parsley, brings a cool grassy scent and a green that stands out against strips of red pepper.
Not a drop of water goes into this Neapolitan braise; the octopus releases its own liquid, and together with crushed tomatoes it becomes the sauce. Black olives and capers handle the briny side, while crushed red pepper adds a low, steady heat. That heat and the garlic are drawn into the oil over low heat at the start, and the tomatoes are added before the garlic browns. Reducing the sauce waits until the octopus is truly tender; if it still resists after the long covered simmer, the lid stays on for longer. Done right, the sauce clings to the octopus with no thin liquid pooling on the plate.
The octopus is already cooked, so all the pan has to do is reduce the gochujang sauce onto it. Over high heat, it is done the moment the sauce darkens at the edges and turns glossy.
Slicing cooked octopus thin and wide with the knife laid at a low angle shortens its tough fibers, so each piece chews easily. Cho-gochujang, gochujang sharpened with vinegar and sugar, coats it in a sour heat, while minari (Korean water dropwort) adds a fresh, herbal aroma and cucumber and onion bring crunch.
Thick coins of octopus sit on slices of boiled potato, finished with nothing more than olive oil, smoked paprika, and coarse salt. With so little seasoning, texture carries the dish: a hard boil tightens the flesh, so the octopus rests in its hot water after the heat goes off and softens gently.