RECIPE: Seafood with Oyster Sauce

 
Ingredients:

squid

shrimp

unshelled mussels(tahong) optional

garlic

onion

chilli(siling mahaba)

spring onion

oyster sauce

salt to taste

cornstarch
water

How to:

On a hot pan, pour cooking oil, when oil is heated saute garlic till it's golden brown then add onion till slightly it's transparent.  Add 1/4 cup of water with a few dissolved cornstarch.  Once the sauce gets thicken, add a little bit of oyster sauce.  Don't get too excited in adding oyster sauce, it might get too salty.  You have the option to put a dash of salt (but be gentle).  When you're satisfied with the taste, you can add the shrimp.  If the shrimp turns pinkish, then it's time to add the squid and unshelled mussels and siling haba all together and cover it.  It will only take 1 to 2 minutes to cook your seafoods, depending how high your heat is.  Check if your squid is cooked, it should still be soft but will be reduced its size a little, mussels should be mushy.  Turn off the heat and serve it with rice. Enjoy!

RECIPE: Stuffed Calamari

It's Vegetable week in Thailand and I'm running out vegan dish. So I have to steer the wheel towards seafood.  I've been wanting to make Calamari for a long time since I ate the most memorable Calamari ever at Dampa in Paranaque but this dish really scares me.  Squids are so sensitive with heat, they shrink right away. But this week, I closed my eyes and bought fresh squid intended for this particular dish. And besides, what will I do with all the white eggs from my Leche Flan. So, here we go...

Ingredients:

1/2 kg of medium size of purple squid (Thailand has white squid as I call it) 

Cooking oil for frying

For Marinade:

1/2 tsp of salt

1 tsp of sugar

1/2 tsp of ground pepper

1 cup of breading

2 egg white

1 tbsp of curry powder

1 tbsp of corn flour /corn starch

For Breading:

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp of ground pepper

1 tsp of  salt

1/2 of ground oregano

4-5 egg whites

First, clean the squid by removing the eye and the plastic then soak it in water for a few min.  Detach the head of the squid from the body. Slice the body into rings. Mix well all the ingredients for marinade.  When the mixture solidifies, put the squids.  Mix well and put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour...but the longer, the better.

Bring out the marinated squids and stuff the squid with the same mixture. When you're ready to fry your squids, here's what you have to do first: mix the flour, pepper, salt and oregano in one container, I use microwavable plastic so it's easy to shake, less mess.  Put the egg white in a separate container. 

Put the squid (by batch) in the flour mixture, shake it and make sure everything is coated. 

Dip individually in the white egg to hold the breading before deep frying it in the very hot cooking oil.  TIP: To save from cooking oil, use a smaller frying pan. I always want to use a small wok or deep pan so I can deep fry with lesser cooking oil.

As I've said, squids are very sensitive with heat, it gets overcooked so quickly.  Deep fry the squid until golden brown and remove it at once. Place it on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.  

You can serve it with salad cream or coleslaw as side dish, but if you don't have neither...catsup will never fail you.