Juipo(쥐포), here comes the Korean fish jerky

Get away beef jerky, here comes the fish jerky! Ta-da!
Sorry to beef jerky lovers! I don't mean to be rude but you need to try this fish jerky if you like fish.

 I love Korean fish jerky (Juipo 쥐포). These salty, sweet, chewy jerky were always big hit in every Korean kid's lunch box (Doshirak, 도시락) as I was growing up.

When my piano man was eating his PB&J sandwich for his lunch at Denver, Colorado in the 80th I had my fish jerky with rice lunch in my hometown of Tong Young, Korea. Isn't it funny that we all grew up with different food and culture but end up living together as a family somehow? Life is full of mystery...

Our Doshirak(lunch box) in the late 70th through 80th was very simple. Mostly made with aluminum material, comes in oval or rectangular in shape, 2/3 of the space was filled with rice and the 1/3 was for Banchan(side dihses). The most common Banchan was egg roll, sherreded cuttlefish(Ojinguh) in spicy sauce, mini patties made with chicken or beef, and this fish jerky(Juipo). Lunch time was our happy hour at school. We didn't have cafeteria or any vending machine to buy food/snack at school those days.

As soon as the lunch bell rings we all take out our doshirak from our bag and put on our desk. Usually 4-6 kids got together and shared lunch on the same desk, which means we shared our doshirak to taste each one's Banchan. It was so much fun to share and got connected with each other through food.  I often got lots of compliments from my friends how my Banchan tasted so good. My mother was an excellent cook and I am so glad that I learned many skills from her.

I would like to show you how I make Korean fish jerky in spicy sauce.
Juipo is made from the seasoned, dried, and then pressed file fish called Juichi(쥐치).

 Here is the picture of the Juipo, the fish jerky of Korea.
Usually they come in a pack of 10.

I can find the dinosaur fossils here. Do you see it?

Well, actually they are eatable fish bones. Grossed out?

Hey! it's all calcium.  Good for you, right?

You will need;  
Juipo, red chili paste (Korean of course), soy sauce, sugar, sweetened rice wine, corn syrup, and sesame seeds. 

There is one more item missing in this group but I will show you later.

First roast your Juipo over low flame on stove top until it gets curled up and the edge gets browned, about 10 seconds each sides.

It will look like this after roasting. You will love the smell!

Do not over roast them unless you have the jaw of Jaws, the shark!

They will get tough by over roasting.

Let them cool and tear them into bite sizes.

Pop one piece in you mouth and chew it. You will love it.

I am saving these three guys for my 9 yr old daughter who loves dried fish 

but can't handle the spicy sauce yet.

They are good to eat the way they are as a snack like beef jerky.

In a pan combine Korean chili paste, soy sauce, sugar, and the sweetened rice wine.

Now this is the ingredient I need to add. What is this?

It is Mayonnaise.

You won't taste it at all in the dish but make so much difference in the over all flavor.

It also softens the fish as well.

Add it to the pan and mix well to incorporate with sauce.

Bring the sauce to a full boil until it thickens. Remove pan from the heat.

Add the Juipo pieces to the sauce and mix well.

Sprinkle some sesame seeds.

Add a little Korean corn syrup, or any light corn syrup to the mixture.

This will add nice shine to the dish but you don't have to.

So how do you eat this?

Simply with rice, what else?

This makes a great Banchan, Korean side dishes

Sooooooooo good!

They can be stored in your fridge for eternity, which I love,

but mine never get lasted more than 3 days.

Because I always took some out to eat with my leftover rice in the middle of the night.

...now you just discovered my weakness.

You rock, fish jerky!

and I luv U with all my heart...

Juipo, the Korean fish jerky in spicy sauce

makes 7 servings as Banchan(side dish)

7 pieces of Juipo(dried file fish), each has size of petite woman's hand

2-3T Korean red chili paste

1T soy sauce(low sodium)

3T Korean sweetened rice wine, Mirim

1t sugar

2t mayonnaise

1T corn syrup, optional

some sesame seeds

Roast the fish over the low flame on the stove until it gets curled up and the edge gets browned, about 10 seconds on each side. Cool them down a bit and tear them off to bite sizes. Set aside.

In a non stick pan combine chili paste, soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, and mayonnaise to make sauce. Mix well.

Bring the sauce to a full boil until it thickens. Remove the pan from heat. Add the fish and mix well. Add corn syrup to bring the more shine if you like. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

Serve this as Banchan(side dish) with rice. Store the leftover in the fridge up to several weeks.

Printable recipe