Chili Garlic Squid

This dish was inspired by a dish we ate at a Chinese restaurant somewhere in Quezon City last year. That one didn't have carrots and green beans, though. :)

I always turn to seafood whenever I need something quick, because it is the quickest-cooking things on the planet. :) Last Wednesday, having been preoccupied with general cleaning, I lost track of time and didn't have much time to prep for dinner. So, we had New Zealand Greenshell Mussels in soup, and this dish.

I love how the knifework done on the squid to make it look this fancy, and the fact that they're available at the frozen goods section of Shopwise.  Alternatively, you can use squid rings, squid heads, squid wings, frozen or fresh (as long as they've been gutted and the ink sac removed), even baby octopus.

CHILI GARLIC SQUID

What's In It?

1 kg squid, flower-cut (thawed if frozen)
150 grams green beans, ends removed, sliced diagonally into 2" cuts
1 carrot, peeled and sliced into strips
a pinch of salt
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 medium scallion (red onion), peeled and sliced
5 T cooking oil
2 T Lee Kum Kee chili garlic sauce
2 T Lee Kum Kee Hoisin sauce
1 t brown sugar (optional)


Kitchen Conjugations:

Heat cooking oil in a wok over high heat.  Stir-fry carrots and green beans with a pinch of salt until half-cooked. Remove from the wok and set aside.

In the same wok, saute scallions and garlic for one minute, or until scallions are soft and transparent. Stir in hoisin sauce, then add in squid. Stir in chili garlic sauce (and brown sugar, if using) and stir-fry the mixture for one minute. (No need to add any water as squid is watery and will leak out water during cooking.)  Add in the carrots and green beans and stir fry for another minute or until the veggies are cooked but still crunchy.

Serve with hot steamed rice.  Enjoy!

Notes:

1.  These squid have been parboiled, already cooked, that's why stir-frying time has been limited to 2 to 3 minutes to prevent them from getting tough and rubbery.  If you're using fresh squid, cooking time will take about another 2 minutes (over high heat).

2. Shrimps, chicken breast strips, firm fish fillets and mushrooms can be used instead of the squid.

Stir-fried Sirloin with Snowpeas

Because I've not been using my BPI Express Online account often enough, I've forgotten my password and had to reset it, and to activate the new password, I had to go to the nearest ATM and perform the activation.

Getting there I found that all the parking slots near the ATM were taken, and the only vacant slot was that reserved for Fresh Option customers. So it was two things -- either kapalan ko ang mukha ko and park even if I was actually going to the ATM, or buy something from the Fresh Options meatshop.

I suppose you know what happened. And that's where I got the sirloin for this recipe.

STIRFRIED SIRLOIN (BEEF) WITH SNOWPEAS

What's In It?

500 g sirloin, cut across the grain into 1.5" x 0.5" strips
3 T oyster sauce
3 T light soy sauce
2 T rice wine
5 T cornstarch
2 T brown sugar
1.5 t ground black pepper
1 t sesame oil
1 medium onion
half a head of garlic
3 T cooking oil (for sautéing)
1/2 cup water
200 g snow peas

Kitchen Conjugations:

Prepare marinade by mixing oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, black pepper and sesame oil. Mix in sirloin strips and cornstarch, blend well.  Set aside and allow to marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Wash snowpeas and remove ends.  Set aside.

Peel and slice onions.  Peel and mash garlic.  Set aside.

Heat water in a wok or frying pan until it boils.  Drop and blanch the snow peas for half a minute.  Remove from pan and set aside. 

Drain water from the pan and add cooking oil. Over medium heat saute onion and garlic for about 2 minutes. Turn up heat then add in marinated sirloin, stir a little and cover to allow the beef to cook, for about 2 minutes.  Uncover and turn the beef slices to allow the other side to cook. Cover and leave to simmer for 2 minutes.

Stir then check seasonings.  Adjust if necessary. Add in snow peas, stir a little to allow some of the beef drippings to coat the pods for half a minute.  Remove from fire and serve hot. 

Best enjoyed with steamed rice. :)

Seafood with Thai Basil

I love seafood, I love basil, and I love Thai cuisine.  And that's why I decided to make this for dinner last night. :)


SEAFOOD WITH THAI BASIL (PAD KEE MAO TALAY)

What's In It?

1 kg mixed seafood (prawns, halibut fillets, mussels, squid), or 250g of each seafood*
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 medium red bell pepper, washed, seeded and sliced into cubes
4-6 Thai chilies, washed and sliced lengthwise
1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced
half a head of garlic, peeled and mashed
a handful of holy basil leaves (20-25 pcs), washed and stems removed
3-4 tablespoons cooking oil
cornstarch slurry (3 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 5 teaspoons water) -- optional

Kitchen Conjugations:

1. Heat oil in a medium-sized wok or deep frying pan over high heat for 1-2 minutes.
2. Saute onions until soft and translucent.  Add garlic, chilies and bell peppers and stir-fry for one minute.
3. Keeping flame on high, add in the seafood, fish sauce, oyster sauce and sugar.  Stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
4. The seafood will render water as they cook so the mixture will turn watery. Spoon out excess water, leaving only enough to cover seafood.
5. Check seasonings.  Add more sugar, salt or chilies depending on preference.
6. Add in the basil leaves and let the mixture simmer until the leaves wilt a little (about one minute).
7. You may thicken the sauce by stirring in the cornstarch slurry at this point. Simmer with continuous stirring for 30 seconds or until the sauce thickens a bit.
8. Serve with steamed rice. Enjoy!

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Notes:

1. I used frozen seafood.  If using fresh ones, be sure to gut and process the squid, and peel and devein the shrimp.

2. This recipe works perfectly as well with chicken and pork fillets, or all-prawn, all-mussel, all-squid versions.

3. I like spice, and for me the 4-6 chilies deliver just the right kick.  You may however tone the spice level by using only 2-3 chilies or omitting the chilies altogether as the holy basil is also spicy.

4.  Do NOT overcook the basil. It will turn black and lend a bitter taste to the dish. In doubt, better to leave it undercooked than overcooked.

5. If you plan to have this cooked way ahead of serving or eating it, or if you will have to freeze and reheat it for later, I suggest you cook this recipe WITHOUT adding the basil, and just add the basil leaves during reheating.

6. Cooking over high temp is crucial because the seafood need to cook quickly so they remain juicy and soft.  Overcooking the squid for one will make it tough and rubbery.

Appreciate your comments and questions! :)

Ginisang Sitaw

I don't know why, but Mike's absence zaps all of my enthusiasm for cooking. Pag wala siya, automatic we eat out or buy something to eat. Or I cook the simplest thing that comes to mind.

Maybe it's because wala akong ganang kumain. Wala rin ganang magluto. (No appetite to eat, no zeal for cooking.)

And that's the story behind this very simple entree.

GINISING SITAW

What's in it?

1 bundle sitaw, washed, ends removed, cut into 1 1/2 " lengths
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
1 medium ripe tomato, washed, sliced into thin wedges
3-5 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed
200 g. ground pork or beef
3 T fish sauce (patis)
1 t ground black pepper
5 T cooking oil


Kitchen Conjugations:

Heat cooking oil over medium heat in a wok or frying pan. Saute onions, garlic and tomatoes for 3 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and wilted. Add in ground meat, fish sauce and ground pepper. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes or until meat loses pinkish tint.

Add in sitaw, stir fry for 1-2 minutes more or until the sitaw sweats. Sitaw should keep bright green color. Remove from fire when it's a little tender but crisp.

Soy Chicken

[For yet another time I wake up and find I can no longer go back to sleep. (Well, not right away at least.) So here I am tweaking away at my posts.]

If the picture above loooks familiar, it'd be because you have really seen it before, in my post titled 'One Beginning, Three Endings,' where I present a recipe that starts with a simple saute and finishes into Mock Chicken Pastel, Chicken Afritada and this, Soy Chicken with Mushrooms.

I figured the post was rather long (having 3 mini-recipes) and wasn't indexed properly, so I am reposting the three recipes individually, with the original starter chicken saute scaled down.

SOY CHICKEN WITH MUSHROOMS

What's In It?

1/2 kgs chicken breast, chopped into small portions
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T fish sauce
1/2 t ground pepper
3 T c cooking oil
1/4 c soy sauce
1 c hot water
1 small can button mushrooms (pieces and stems)
3-4 stalks green onion, minced, for garnish

Kitchen Conjugations:

Heat wok or frying pan, add in cooking oil, then saute garlic and onions for one minute or until onions are soft.

Add in chicken, fish sauce and ground black pepper. Stir fry for 1 minute or until chicken loses its pink tint, then cover and simmer for 2 minutes to allow the chicken to sweat out its juice.

Pour in the soy sauce and hot water, let boil then simmer for 3 minutes more. Stir in mushrooms and cook for another minute. Check seasonings and adjust if needed. Transfer onto a serving plate and garnish with spring onions.

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Note: You can substitute young corn, broccoli, or shiitake mushrooms for the button mushrooms.

Sweet Basil Squid

Mike and I, we love seafood. As you (would) probably notice, most of the recipes (and food reviews) here (will) feature prawns, squid and fish.

We also love spice. And herbs. Me, I am crazy about basil. Given a choice I will always have pesto (proof: here). I sprinkle dried basil on my pasta each time we eat at Sbarro, and I will always find an excuse to put it in stir-fries whenever possible.

I love that its smell and flavor are interestingly indescribable. There's no way to say in a few words how it specifically smells or tastes. This is because the aroma and flavor of basil is an interplay of the essential oils present in its leaves: cinnamate (same as in cinnamon), citronellol (geraniums, roses, and citronella), geraniol (as in geranium), linalool (a flowery scent also in coriander), methyl chavicol (which gives tarragon its scent), myrcene (bay, myrcia), pinene (which is, as the name implies, the chemical which gives pine oil its scent) and ocimene terpineol. (Wikipedia) There's simply no way a dish will be bland with basil in it!

There's also quite a number of basil varieties, but the most commonly known and available is sweet basil. (This is also the kind commonly used in Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese cooking.) I usually find Sweet Basil in the fresh produce section of Shopwise and SaveMore, with 100grams costing less than P20.00. (When they're in season, of course.) What an inexpensive way to put a little kick in your cuisine!

SWEET BASIL SQUID

What's In It?

• 1 kg. squid, cleaned, ink sacs and backbones removed, body cut into rings
• 1 large scallion/onion, peeled and sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 3 pieces red pepper (siling labuyo), sliced - optional
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 5 tablespoons oyster sauce
• a bunch of sweet basil, leaves removed from stalks and washed well
• some leeks, sliced diagonally into rings, for garnish

Kitchen Conjugations:

In a wok over high heat, saute onions and garlic in oil for one minute. Add in squid heads and rings, siling labuyo (if using) and oyster sauce. Stir fry for a minute then add in sweet basil leaves. Stir fry a few seconds more, just to cook the leaves a little*. Adjust and correct seasonings by adding a pinch of salt or sugar.

Garnish with leeks. Serve while hot.

NOTES:

1. If you overcook the basil the leaves will turn black and leak all the essential oils into your food. The flavor will be very strong.
2. Squid becomes hard and rubbery when overcooked, so cook it over high heat quickly.

Substitutions: You can use Thai Basil for the sweet basil, other meats like pork, beef, shrimps and chicken (see at left) for the squid. Prolong stir-frying to about 3 minutes if using pork, beef or chicken, but only 1 minute for shrimps.

Pescado Grande with Tausi (Fish with Salted Black Beans)

I'M ALIVE!

After 10 years (tee-hee-hee), I'm back in blogging form. Not to spoil the surprise, but let me say there'd be changes in this blog soon, and this post will be among the few of the 'old school'. Let's enjoy it while it lasts. :)

First off for this year is a fish dish, payback for all the crimes committed during the holiday season. :)

Here's the fish: a fairly large one. As I write this, my husband is in China and isn't around to identify it for me, so for the moment let's call it Pescado Grande. :) We bought it at the Arranque Market for P250 per kilo, and I think it weighed in close to 2 kilos. That's a broadsheet newspaper it's lying on, and it occupied 2/3 of the sheet. Pretty big, huh?

Anyway, after the descaling and slicing into more manageable slices, Mike fried Pescado Grande and I took it from there. Recipe below. I'm scaling it down to a more manageable size for you who are not too much into fish eating. :)

FISH WITH SALTED BLACK BEANS

What's In It?

500g. to 800g. fried fish*
3-5 T cooking oil
2 T tausi (salted black beans)
3 T ginger, peeled and sliced into thin strips
1 red onion, sliced
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c to 3/4 c water
3 -5 T brown sugar
3 t cornstarch dissolved in 5 t water

Kitchen Conjugations:

Lay fried fish/fish slices on a serving platter.

Heat cooking oil in a wok or frying pan. Saute ginger, onions and garlic until onions are translucent, about 2 minutes. Add tausi and stir fry for 30 seconds before adding water.
Let simmer for 3 minutes. Adjust seasonings by adding a pinch each of salt and pepper, then stir in cornstarch mixture. Let simmer for a minute or so or until the sauce thickens.

Pour over the fish slices and serve immediately. Garnish with chopped spring onions or wansoy if desired.

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*Fried tilapia, labahita, bangus, dalagang bukid, bisugo, maya-maya will work just as well.