Learn how to make this popular Korean fish cake side dish!
Korean fish cake stir fry is a very popular Korean side dish (banchan, 반찬) in Korea.
Korean fish cake is called eomuk (어묵) or odeng (오뎅), so Korean fish cake stir fry is called Eomuk Bokkeum, 어묵볶음 or Odeng Bokkeum, 오뎅볶음.
Korean fish cake is very cheap and making side dishes with it is also easy and quick. For these reasons, lots of Korean restaurants commonly serve this as a complimentary side dish.
My mom also used to make this at least once a week. As with many Korean side dishes, she often made it in a big batch, so it lasted us for a few days (like 5 to 6 days) in the fridge.
But, I prefer making enough to last 2 to 3 days as it gets less tasty as time goes by, in my opinion. Also, if you eat too much of the same side dish for too long, you can get sick of it. Lol. (At least, that’s how I feel about it.)
You can make fish cake side dish spicy or non-spicy too. Obviously, the non-spicy version is particularly popular amongst kids, but I love them both! They have different tastes and merits.
Korean fish cake side dish is typically made with rectangular fish cake sheets, but you can also make them with other shaped fish cakes. Just thinly slice them so that it’s easy to bite and also so the sauce penetrates well during cooking.
You can easily get Korean fish cake from a Korean grocery store. You can also try using oden from a Japanese grocery store too.
If you have no luck finding them, make Korean fish cake from scratch using this recipe. I’ve got you covered! 😉
Anyway, I hope you enjoy making Korean fish cake side dish! Also, let us know, whether you prefer the spicy version or non-spicy version below. I’m interested!
PS. If you like this recipe, you might also like to try Korean fish cake soup and Korean spicy rice cake recipe.
Ingredients for 2 servings
Main
- 2 Korean fish cakes (110 g / 3.9 ounces), rinsed briefly under hot running water and thinly sliced
- 20 g / 0.7 ounces onion, thinly sliced
- 20 g / 0.7 ounces green bell peppers / capsicum, thinly sliced
- 10 g / 0.4 ounces yellow bell pepper / capsicum, thinly sliced
- 10 g / 0.7 ounces red bell pepper / capsicum, thinly sliced
- Some cooking oil (I used rice bran oil)
*You don’t have to follow the exact color and / or combination of the vegetables. As long as the total weight of the vegetables is net 60 g / 2 ounces, that’s fine.
** Other popular vegetables alternative – carrots and zucchini (Note that these take longer to cook through than bell peppers / capsicum and onion)
Korean Fish Cake Side Dish Sauce – Choose between option 1 and 2
Option 1. Korean fish cake sauce (Mix these together in a bowl)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp rice wine
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp sesamse oil
Option 2. Korean spicy fish cake sauce (Mix these together in a bowl)
- 2 tsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp rice wine
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp sesame oil
*1 Tbsp = 15 ml
How to Make Korean Fish Cake Side Dish
1. Heat up a skillet / wok and once heated, add some cooking oil.
2. Add all the vegetables and stir them until they are lightly wilted (about 1 min). Add the fish cake and stir it for about 2 minutes.
3. Add your choice of seasoning sauce and stir it quickly (about 30 seconds) and evenly. Remove it from the heat. Serve.
Korean Fish Cake Side Dish
Ingredients
MAIN
- 2 fish cake sheets , rinsed briefly under hot running water and thinly sliced
- 20 g onion , thinly sliced
- 20 g green bell pepper / capsicum, thinly sliced
- 10 g yellow bell pepper / capsicum, thinly sliced
- 10 g red bell pepper / capsicum, thinly sliced
- Some cooking oil (I used rice bran oil)
OPTION 1. KOREAN FISH CAKE SAUCE (MIX THESE TOGETHER IN A BOWL)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp rice wine
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp sesame oil
OPTION 2. KOREAN SPICY FISH CAKE SAUCE (MIX THESE TOGETHER IN A BOWL)
- 2 tsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp rice wine
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Instructions
- Heat up a skillet / wok and once heated, add some cooking oil.
- Add all the vegetables and stir them until they are lightly wilted (about 1 min). Add the fish cake and stir it for about 2 minutes.
- Add your choice of seasoning sauce and stir it quickly (about 30 seconds) and evenly. Remove it from the heat. Serve.
I made both, the spicy one is waaaaaaayyyyyy better, IMO. I did cook it with the sauce just a tad longer than the regular. Not sure if that took the fishy back note out or not? How long do you parboil under hot running water?
Hi Tiffany,
In this recipe, parboil is only for a brief moment, like 5 to 10 seconds. This is to lightly rinse off the oil coating on the fish cakes. (As all packaged fish cakes are deep fried.) How long did you do it?
Anyway, after reading your comment, I thought maybe parboil is not the right term to use, so I just updated the wordings in the recipe to read – rinsed briefly under hot running water and thinly sliced.
Does it make clearer? Let me know! 🙂
Hi there! can you recommend something that i can use too instead of rice wine?
What do i do with all the left over capsicum 😛
I often just throw them into a wok when I make a stir fry dish. Or eat them raw as they are healthy snacks. Or in salad. 🙂
Hi there. Is there a web site link to were I can purchase the fish cakes from here in the US?
Here it is. http://nj.hmart.com/880106630122/ Enjoy my recipe!
So easy! I always wanted to eat fish cake.
I’m going to try it soon as *hopefully* find it in a asian store !
Hope you can find some fish cakes to try this recipe! Enjoy! 🙂
Fascinating! I’ve never heard of fish cakes! Wonderful recipe.
Thanks. Hope you give this a try soon! 🙂
This is one of our favorite Ban-Chan dish when we visit our local Korean restaurant.
Now that I know how easy the recipe is, I’ll ask for it at a Korean grocery.
Thank You for Sharing
Glad to hear that! Hope you like it! 🙂
Hi Sue !! Thx for ur yummy recipes , will try to make it . Happy mother’s day to u … Loves
thank you so much!!!
You’re welcome! Enjoy! 🙂
Hi! Thank you for posting this recipe. I was thinking of making this and a couple of other banchan for Christmas to give away, and would like to know how long this lasts. Thank you!
Hi Stella, I think it would last for about 3 days safely (kept in the fridge in an air tight container). Of course, it doesn’t taste as nice as it could be as the time goes by. 🙂 Very nice of you to making Korean side dishes for Christmas giveaway.
Hmm…I always thought this was called odeng bokkum. How is eomuk japchae written in hangul? Looks like a great recipe, this is so similar to my mum’s 🙂
Hi Haley,
Odeng bokkum is also a common name for this dish. Odeng is a Japanese name for fish cake and Eomuk (어묵) is a Korean name.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I love fish cakes and I’ve always wanted to make this side dish. We always get it at the Korean BBQ. I just made it and it’s exactly like the ones I’ve had.
Hi Lisa,
I am very glad that you found what you were looking for, finally. 🙂
There are lots more Korean recipes I want to share! I hope they are also helpful enough, so that you don’t have to worry about buying a Korean cookbook.
There are various sauces you can use to cook fish cakes, which I haven’t posted yet. So keep an eye out for them too. 🙂
Hi, thank you so much for this recipe. I’ve been looking for it far and wide, because where I live in San Diego, CA, I always go to the Korean store and buy my favorite banchan, which is almost the same dish as yours. I wanted to buy a Korean cookbook with this recipe, but they do not sell it in English. But thank you so much again, and I bought the eomuk and I can’t wait to try it and tell you how it turns out. Regards, Lisa