Sambal Sotong (Squid Sambal) from Nava-K.com

As I've mentioned before, I really love squid. It's one of those seafood that I enjoy eating a lot! Aside from the Filipino squid dishes that I've shared here before like the adobong pusit (squid adobo), calamares (fried squid rings), and rellenong pusit (stuffed squid), there is this other dish which is non-Filipino that has so much appeal to my taste buds. It's called Sambal Sotong (Squid Sambal). This is a Malaysian dish that has become my favorite since the first time I tried it at a restaurant. For those of you who aren't familiar with Malaysian cuisine, sambal is a chili based sauce prepared mainly from dried chillies and garlic. Sambal dishes are easy to cook but they say it takes a lot of practice to make a good sambal. I've heard that the secret to a delicious sambal is to sauté the chilies until the paste separates from oil.

I requested my good blog friend, Nava of Nava-K.com to share with us her recipe of Sambal Sotong for our PiTCC's Favorite DIshes From Around The World series, and I am truly honored that she granted my request. I'm pretty sure that a lot of you in the blogosphere know Nava. But for those who don't, Nava is the very warm lady from Malaysia who has this very wonderful lifestyle blog where she shares her love for beauty, fashion and food. She's one blogger who has never failed to show her support for me and PiTCC since last year when I was just starting.  For that, I'm truly thankful to her! She's definitely one of the Asian bloggers that I look up to. She's not only a good blogger, she's also successful with her profession as a college lecturer.

Nava is someone who travels a lot, and with her very busy schedule, I'm truly glad that she found the time to be here with us today! Words are really not enough for me to thank her! Without further ado, I give you Nava Krishnan...

  

Hi everyone! Let me start off by extending a big thank you to Tina for the invitation in sharing my recipe on her blog.  I came to know Tina via blogging and from there on, we have developed a great friendship although we are far away from each other.  I suppose like how the rest of the world is connected via technology, we are the same.  We take time to visit each other’s blog, and of course her comments on my blog always brighten up my day.

I was asked to share a recipe on squids or sotong as we call it in Malaysian term.  Honestly I don't cook squids often, not that we don't like it but squids are not one of our favorites.  Therefore I was quite worried, wondering if I will do a good job cooking the squids. Thank God all turned out well and my number one food critic at home, my other half, said that the dish was great and the squids were cooked just right in texture.

This recipe is a typical Malaysian style with the spicy, tangy and a mild sweet taste. I added another extra ingredient, that being the Petai or stinky beans. I am not sure whether you can find the beans over at your place and if it’s not available, you can do away with it.  The other option will be using long beans or French beans to replace the stinky beans. I did have some difficulties in looking for the squids and the nearest I found was the smallest type. After cleaning and slicing them into rings, they became even smaller. Small squids does not take a long time to cook, thus I was done with cooking within 10 minutes or so. If you are using the bigger type of squids, you probably will have to cook them for a longer time.  Do not overcook the squids as they will become rubbery.

I shall stop here and move on with the recipe now. Hope you will like this...

Baked Rellenong Pusit

Next to shrimps and crabs, squid (or pusit in Filipino) is my favorite seafood...and though I love adobong pusit and calamares, this is how I enjoy it the most..

This is called Rellenong Pusit (Stuffed Squid) in the Philippines. Relleno is a Spanish word which means filling, but Filipinos use it to refer to anything stuffed and is one of the many culinary influences that we got from Spain. Filipinos stuff almost anything --- from vegetables like eggplant and ampalaya to chicken and seafood like fish, squid, crabs and even mussels.

The traditional Rellenong Pusit is stuffed with sauteed ground pork and vegetables like carrots, celery and tomatoes, and then pan fried. But this one that I'm sharing with you today is a little different. Not only is it baked, the filling is also different. It's made of spinach and tofu(though it also has a little ground pork, just to be sure that my daughters will eat it)!

This is really a very appetizing and healthy way to enjoy squid. It may look a little complicated but it actually isn't. Just clean the squid, do a little sauteing and stuffing, and VOILA - a delicious Rellenong Pusit! Check it out...

Adobong Pusit

I didn't get to eat enough squid from our Valentine's dinner --- my daughters love calamares so much and they ate almost all of it. So I thought of cooking squid again last night. But not calamares anymore. I cooked adobong pusit (squid adobo).

Adobo is a Spanish word which means seasoning or marinade. In the Philippines, it refers to the popular dish and cooking process that involves meat or seafood marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and other spices then browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade.

Pusit (Squid) is the most common seafood that can be cooked with adobo method, and adobong pusit is the quickest-to-cook adobo dish. Pusit is done in less done 10 minutes and medium-sized squid can easily absorb flavors so in cooking adobong pusit, there’s no need for marinating.

If you are using fresh squid, your squid adobo will have purplish-black sauce due to the inclusion of squid ink. Since fresh squid is not available here in our area, I used frozen squid so the sauce is just brownish like other adobo dishes. You can use any kind of squid for this recipe, but small to medium sized squids are better because they are more flavorful compared to large ones. Just be sure not to overcook the squid to preserve the tender texture.

Adobong Pusit is the most popular way of preparing squid among Filipinos. It’s really good! Try it!

Prep Time: 10 mins          Cook Time: 15 mins.          Servings: 4-6                                 

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs small to medium sized pusit (squid)
• 1 small bay leaf 
• ¼  tsp. peppercorns
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup vinegar
• ½  Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 3 stalks green onions, cut into 1 ½ inch length
• 1 Jalapeño, seeds removed and sliced into rings(optional)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1.Clean the squid. When I’m cooking adobong pusit, I don’t remove the squid's skin. Neither do I remove the innards. I just remove the beak (which is a bony piece of inedible cartilage that it is located at the base of the tentacles) and the thin transparent cartilage from the body of the squid. Carefully remove the ink sac and set aside.

2.Wash and drain bodies and tentacles. Some cook the squid whole. I like cutting them into bite size. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. In a saucepan, sauté garlic in 2 Tbsp oil over medium heat until light brown. Add onion and sauté until translucent. Add squid. Stir fry for a minute.

4. Add the ink, fish sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaf and peppercorns. Mix well and cook over medium low heat for 5 mins.

5. Add sugar and salt to suit your taste. Add Jalapeño and green onions. Cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Serve with hot rice.