Stir-fried fish cake is something you’ll usually get among the many and delicious side dishes served in Korean restaurants. I remember having it as long ago as the late ’80s, when I frequented a Korean restaurant on N. Clark St. in Chicago that I think is long gone, as well as some of the restaurants on Lawrence Ave. during the same decade, when the Albany Park neighborhood was Chicago’s Koreatown.

The Korean population there has dwindled in the 21st century, WBEZ reports. These days, metro Chicago’s Korean hub is suburban Niles, which indeed has a very large H Mart that we occasionally visit.

You can get stir-fried fish cake (eomuk) there to eat at home.

Niles is a little far for us, so Yuriko typically visits the smaller H Mart in Schaumburg, an outpost of the brand. Besides good Korean food, H Mart carries other Asian items, sometimes — often? — cheaper than at the Japanese grocery stores in Arlington Heights.

“It’s typically, a mix of Alaskan pollock, cod, tilapia and others depending on the region and season,” Future Dish says of eomuk, also known as odeng.

“The leftover pieces from these fishes are grounded into a paste and mixed with flour. Then finely chopped carrots, onion, salt, sugar and other ingredients are mixed into the thick and sticky paste.

“The paste is rolled, shaped and cut into various shapes (sheets, balls and ovals). Then deep-fried for a few minutes.”

It might not look good in my picture, but it sure is.