Squid In Coconut Milk (Spicy)

For as long as I can remember, we have always called this 'Sotong Masak Lemak'. Lemak, meaning 'fats' in the Malay language, refers to the coconut milk that is the key ingredient in a masak lemak recipe. Masak means cook and Sotong, is squid.

Although we (largely) speak English at home, no one would catch what it was exactly that I would be dishing out for dinner if I said I was cooking 'Squid In Coconut Milk' . Cue cricket sound, followed by a chorus of "Eww!". No whoops of yahoo or hooray until I say it in the name they are familiar with. It's similar to calling Kuih Kapit aka Love Letters a 'Clamped Snack'. The former sounds much better, of course. Some food names are best left untranslated in my opinion, but for blogging purposes, I try my best!

Squid In Creamy Coconut Milk - a little spicy!

Getting back to this yummy take on a local favourite - This dish is pretty common in our region because of our obsession with food laced with coconut milk and grated coconut. Pop into any Malay food stall and you'll see a variety of masak lemak dishes. I've made a creamier version, as you can see from the thickness of the gravy. This can be diluted with a bit more water, if that's your preference.

As I've added bird's eye chilli into the mix, this is a wee bit spicy. No heavy seasoning required as the gravy is already sweetish on it's own.

Squid In Coconut Milk (Spicy)
Ingredients:
- 250g squid (sliced)
- 2 red chilli (sliced in the middle as shown below)
- 1 lemongrass (smashed)
- A small turmeric leaf or ½ a large leaf (thinly sliced, primary vein removed)
- 200ml coconut milk
- Some water
- Salt to taste

For the turmeric paste (ingredients to blend):
- 1 thumb fresh turmeric (roughly chopped)
- 7 green bird's eye chilli (deseeded)
- 3 medium red onions (roughly chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
- 1 lemongrass (thinly sliced)

How-to:
1) Make turmeric paste. Blend ingredients listed above with ¼ cup coconut milk and ¼ cup water, until fine.

2) Heat pan on low. Pour in turmeric paste and add in the red chilli and smashed lemongrass. Simmer or cook on a low boil for several minutes to combine the flavour, and until the red chilli is slightly tender. Stir slowly, and continuously.

3) Add a little water into the blender (about 2 tbsp). Rinse out the remaining paste and pour this into the pan along with the remainder of the coconut milk. Add the turmeric leaf. Keep stirring and allow it to come to a low boil.

4) Add the squid. Season with salt. Stir until squid is done.

1) Ingredients required. 2) Blend the ingredients into a paste.
3) The paste turns into a nice orange-yellow thanks to the turmeric. 4) Cook the paste for several minutes.

1) Add coconut milk and turmeric leaf. 2) Add the squid.
3) Season with salt and it's done.

Squid In Coconut Milk (Spicy)

Squid In Creamy Coconut Milk- Great with rice!

Best eaten with rice. Could go yum with bread, but it isn't my favourite way.

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Squid and Pineapple Stir-Fry

It's a lovely day for a pineapple dish, so my taste buds informed me. You may ha-ha me on this one but sunny weather and clear skies played a role in further encouraging the tropical mood. It's the haze season. We haven't had really clear skies in awhile. The heavy downpour in the earlier hours helped.  

Anyway, I headed into the kitchen to find something to put together. It's one of those days I set google and recipe books aside. Instead, I took the 'this-could-work' and 'that-could-work' approach, after going through my food cabinet and the refrigerator.

Here is the result. Am I happy with it? Completely!

Garlicky Squid and Pineapple With Black Pepper and Chilli Flakes

Flavour-wise, sweet and savoury with a bit of peppery spiciness is how I would describe this dish. This is what I tossed together in my moment of inspiration.

Ingredients:
- 245g canned pineapple cubes (drain the syrup but leave aside 2 tbsp for use)
- 2 pcs squid tubes, each about 5.5inches long (slice open and cut into strips)
- 4 garlic cloves (chopped)
- ¼ tsp chilli flakes (seedless)
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- A handful of roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Pinch of salt, or to taste
- Cooking oil

Top: Squid, pineapple, flat-leaf parsley, black pepper, chilli flakes and garlic.
Bottom: Stir-frying squid and pineapple cubes.

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan.
2) Saute garlic until lightly browned. Add the squid slices and stir-fry.
3) Once the squid is cooked, add the pineapples. Stir-fry for a bit.
4) Add a pinch of salt, pineapple syrup, chilli flakes and black pepper. Stir to combine.
5) Turn the fire/heat off.
6) Add flat-leaf parsley. Give it a good stir and serve.

Serving Squid and Pineapple

Eat as a side dish or with flavoured rice.

Best eaten as a side dish or with lightly flavoured rice.

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Stuffed Squid with Rice in Lemony Tomato Sauce

Stuffed Squid with Rice slathered in Lemony Sauce

I light up when I see fresh seafood in large sizes - big prawns, big squid, big crabs! It's like being in underwater wonderland. I don't buy it often but when I do, I get as excited and cheerful as Mr. Krabs when he sees a dollar.

With two large squids in my shopping bag the other day...

In me best pirate voice:"Arr...what shall I do with you, calamari beauty?"

I decided to make a one-dish wonder - stuffed squid covered in rich lemony tomato sauce. We eat rice almost on a daily basis. I'm used to cooking several side dishes to go along with it. So, I wouldn't consider this too much work. The only difference? It's all going to be served on one plate!

Check out the recipe below for my version of stuffed squid.

Stuffed Squid
Ingredients:
- 2 whole 8-inch squid (cleaned)
- 3 cups hot water
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- Fried Rice (Recipe below)
- Lemony Tomato Sauce (Recipe below)
- 2 toothpicks

How-to:
1) Plunge squid into hot water and remove quickly.
The goal is not to cook it. I do it so that there's less water seeping out from the squid when it's baking midway. It also makes it easier to stuff.

2) Stuff squid with fried rice.

3) Use toothpicks to pin the squid head back on. Make small cuts on top of the squid (shown in the photo below).

4) Place squid on a greased baking dish. Baste squid with cooking oil.

5) Bake uncovered in a pre-heated oven at 160c for 15 minutes more or less until the squid is cooked.

6) Pour lemon tomato sauce over baked squids before serving.

Stuffing Squid with Fried Rice

Make small cuts across the top and toothpick the head on

Once the squid is out of the oven, pour sauce over and serve

Stuffed Squid - A Meal For One

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Lemony Tomato Sauce

Lemon Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped) 
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 2 medium tomatoes (quartered)
- ¼ lemon (for juice and zest)
- ¼ water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cornflour (mix with water, into watery paste)
- 1 handful chopped fresh coriander
- 1 tbsp cooking oil

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan. Add onions and garlic. Fry until lightly browned.
2) Add tomatoes, water and sugar. Scrape some lemon zest in, then squeeze lemon juice into the mix. Stir well and cook until tomatoes look smashed.
3) Season with a pinch of salt.
4) Turn the heat off and stir in the cornflour.
5) Add fresh coriander. Mix well.
6) Serve on top of baked stuffed squid.

Fried Rice with Button Mushrooms and Lemon Zest

Fried Rice
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cooked white rice (enough to stuff 3/4 of two squids)
- ¼ canned button mushrooms (out of 425g can)
- 1 handful thinly sliced beef strips
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 1 red chili (chopped)
- Lemon zest
- ½ tsp dark soy sauce
- Pinch of salt and pepper (to taste)
- 1 stalk fresh coriander (chopped)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- A bit of water

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan. Fry garlic until lightly browned.
2) Add mushrooms, chili and beef strips. Stir until beef strips are cooked. Add soy sauce and a bit of water (enough to help coat the rice brown). Then, add white rice.
3) Season with salt, pepper and lemon zest. Mix well.
4) Turn the heat off. Add fresh coriander and mix well.
5) Stuff this rice into the squid.

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Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

The wet weather has been prompting cravings for hot soup to alleviate the chilliness I feel.

I have kiam chye boey, that sour spicy "leftovers" stew, on my mind but cooking that would take three hours at least! Surely too long a wait for this poor soul....and so came about the inspiration for a shortcut, using only some of the key ingredients from the traditional kiam chye boey dish and without the long stew.

Here's what came out of the pot at the end of it all - a clear sour and spicy soup with robust flavours that zapped my senses alert. This was so delicious that I had seconds...SECONDS! Just the perfect thing to have in this cold weather. BrrRrrr...no more!
    

Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

Ingredients :
- 3 pcs asam keping (tamarind peel)
- 2 pcs sour plum (bottled) 
- 6 green bird's eye chili (seeded and halved)
- ½ large carrot (cut into medium cubes)
- 1 large tomato (quartered)
- 1 rib celery (chopped)
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 1.5 L water
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- Fried fish cakes (2 varieties - the kind for soups)
   ~ 1 palm-sized flat square piece (cut into smaller squares)
   ~ 1 rectangular roll, about 3 inches long (sliced)
- 10 baby squids  
- Salt to taste

How-to:
1) Heat oil in electrical cooker (that's what I'm using). Add garlic and give it a quick stir-fry.

2) Add tomatoes, carrots, bird's eye chili, tamarind peel and sour plums. Mix well.

3) Add water and bring to a boil. 

4) Once it boils, add the ribbed stem parts of the celery into the pot (leave the leafy parts for last).

5) Cook covered until tomatoes and carrots are tender (which was between 30-45 minutes for me because I wanted more flavour in the soup). 

6) Then, add fish cakes and the remainder of the celery. Season with salt and stir well. Lastly, add the squid. You are done when that is cooked.

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Stir Fried Water Apples with Squid and Cabbage

Water apples are known by many names. We call it wax jambu in my household.

I love cooking with fruits and had a little kitchen fun experimenting with water apples when a friend gave some to us.

Water apples aren't as sweet as most fruits but it is juicy so it makes more sense to stir fry it than to attempt baking it with something.

Anyway, here's what I did. Simple, but the outcome was tasty. My other half, the one person who has little love for this fruit has this to say ~ "I never knew water apples could taste this good!" I agree.

Stir Fried Water Apples with Squid and Cabbage

Estimates for two, best eaten with rice.

Ingredients:
- 2 water apples (sliced thin)
- 1/2 small cabbage (sliced thin)
- 1 medium-sized Squid (sliced into ring-shaped sections)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 sprig spring onion (chopped)
- 1/2 tsp corn flour (diluted in 1 tbsp water)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- Salt and pepper to taste

How-to:
1. Heat oil in cooking pan. Add garlic and fry until lightly browned.

2. Add squid, water apples and cabbage. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Stir fry until water apples are slightly tender. Finish by stirring corn flour into the mix.

4. Garnish with spring onion before serving.

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