spicy squid stir-fry

2 min read

We understand why some people are wary of cooking squid: you have to find some, clean them and hope it doesn’t cook up as rubbery tubes. However, here in the UK, we have found that it is fairly easy to find bags of frozen cleaned squid tubes in fishmongers. To reduce the risk of rubberiness, simply use the bicarbonate of soda trick to relax the proteins in the squid meat be-fore cooking.

Serves 43 large squid tubes (about 450g in total) 2 pinches bicarbonate of soda spring onions 212 tbsp vegetable oil 1 medium onion, sliced 12 tbsp diced ginger fresh red chilli, deseeded and diagonally sliced 2 tbsp hoisin sauce 4 tsp ground white pepper pinch sa alt large pinch granulated sugar 1 Thoroughly rinse the squid tubes under cold water. Open up the tube by sliding a knife inside and slicing along one of the folded edges. With the inside facing up, use a very sharp knife to score the entire surface with parallel cuts. For the most impressive curling action, try to angle the blade of your knife at45° angle to the surface of squid, score as deep as you can without goin through to the other side, and keep the scores only a few millimeters apart. Rotate the piece of squid by 180, and score again so that you end up with a cross-hatch pattern. Cut the scored squid into 4x 4cm sized pieces, drain in a colander and mix in the bicarbonate of soda. 2 Separate the white part of the spring onion from the green and finely slice. Slice the green parts on the diagonal into long shards. Set aside.

3 Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in wok or frying pan over a high heat and stir-fry the onion until softened.

Remove and set aside.

4 Reheat the wok or frying pan until smoking hot Add 2 tablespoons oil, rapidly followed by the spring onion whites and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the chilli and stir a few times to tease the heat out of the chilli and into the oil.

5 Add the squid and stir-fry until they have all curled up into tubes. Add the hoisin sauce, pepper,salt and sugar and toss to mix everything together. Add the spring onion greens and stir-fry until they have wilted slightly, then serve.