[Indonesian Recipes] Squid With Soy Sauce Stir Fry

This is one of my mother’s signature dishes. She doesn’t do this often, in fact, it has been years since she cooked this. After a super early trip to the market one Sunday, she came home with a bag of fresh big squids and I was cheering like a little girl. Oh my gosh, are we going to cook “Cumi Kecap”? That’s what we call in Indonesian. Squid with soy sauce stir fry.

The tentacles are stuffed inside the squid. The whole dish is slowly simmered in sweet sauce to perfection. When you take your first bite, the soft stuffing inside just burst with texture and flavors. The gooey black sauce is like the dark evil brother. And the dish shines perpetually!

Isn’t this guy one of the most interesting creatures that live in the sea? I think so.

It is so smooth and silky .. and spotty.

Peel the spotty layer of skin off. All of them. It is inedible. Yeah all of them. Get rid of the ink bag. I didn’t have time to take picture of them. Mother worked so fast! Rub them lightly with some coarse salt or some lime juice to get rid of the sea-smell out of them. Rinse well.

Pat them dry. Put the squids and tamarind pulp in a bowl.

It is now marinade time. Add some ground white pepper and salt.

A lot of sweet soy sauce.

Mix them all together.

Use your fingers to squeeze and smash the tamarind pulp. Get rid of the seeds. Use everything else.

Ad some sugar.

Mix some more.

Stuff the tentacles into the squid, leaving some shown (mother left one small strain out that couldn’t be seen in this shot and by the time I did it, my hands were too sticky to hold the camera).

Use a toothpick to pierce the opening of the squid. Do this to all of the squids.

Leave on fridge for sometime so the marinade liquid can work the magic.

Heat some oil in a big and thick wok. Or thick pan. Why? Because of the high sugar content, the sugar will burn too quickly if the pan is too thin. Use the heaviest pan-bottom you have.

Toss in the squid and marinade liquid and lower heat. Let simmer.

Add shaved palm sugar (gula melaka/gula merah)

Add water and continue simmering.

The sugar content will cause the sauce to bubble up like crazy when boiling.

Almost there. The sauce is slightly darken.

Yeah that’s what I was talking about. It already caramelized and darken. The liquid would have been cooked away by a third.

Now the final step, add in some margarine (or butter). This will shine the dish up .. and give it a delicious hint of .. err … fat.

Stir quickly to get an even melt.

Serve with steamed rice. Mop up the sauce with some crusty bread. Or your fingers. Whichever.

Squid With Soy Sauce Stir Fry

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 kg squid, skinned and ink-bag removed
60 g tamarind pulp
1/2 tbsp pepper
6 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt, plus 1/2 tsp for rinsing the squid
4 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 tbsp palm sugar (gula merah or gula melaka), shaved
2 tbsp margarine

Directions:

Wash squid with some salt. Rinse under running water and pat dry.
In a bowl, combine squid, tamarind, pepper, soy sauce, sugar and salt. Mix wel.
Stuff the tentacles into each squid and fasten the squid by toothpick.
Marinade for a couple of hours in the fridge.
Heat cooking oil in a wok. Add the squid and marinade liquid. Cook for a couple of minutes till it boils slightly.
Add shaved palm sugar and more water. Lower heat.
Keep simmering and stirring to avoid burn. Cook for 8-10 minutes until the liquid thickens.
Add margarine and mix well.
Remove from heat and serve with warm white rice.

This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Indochinekitchen.com. Thanks so much!