Recipe: Stuffed Squid/Calamari

Squid/Calamari  is one of our favourite sea food items. For the last few years, I have only been able to buy it already chopped into rings. So when I saw fresh squid at the INA market, I jumped at the chance to stuff them.

The fish market guys cleaned the calamari for me, so that saved me a lot of hassle and messing around with the squid ink. (not something we use in Manglorean cooking, but some European countries do need the ink specifically in their recipes). If you have to clean it yourself, About.com has accurate instructions on How to Clean Squid.

I bought 1 kilo of squid but this was the weight pre-cleaning. It turned out to be 12 tubes of squid after cleaning (I forgot to ask them to give me the tentacles too, so they discarded them, while I was purchasing other fish at the shop)

Ingredients:
6-8 calamari.squids
3 medium onions finely chopped
3 medium tomatoes finely chopped

3-4 green chillies finely chopped
15-20 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2" ginger finely chopped
2 tsps meet mirsang
a few tbsps chopped corriander
oil to fry
3-6 tbsps of rawa/semolina/semid
salt to taste

Method:
Clean Squid.
I always marinate my sea food in a salt, turmeric powder (haldi) vinegar mix for at least 15 minutes to eliminate the stronger smells.
Turn the squid inside out. This accomplishes 2 things - you can remove all the extra tissue from the inside & the opening of the squid tends to rollup outwards when cooking, if its inside out, it will turn inwards and your stuffing will be safe. I use a technique similar to turning socks inside out.
Keep squid aside until stuffing is ready.

 All the cuttings should be chopped really fine.
Saute the onions in a bit of oil, until they sweat.
Add tomatoes, saute till they start to dry up.
Add chopped garlic, chillies and ginger.
Add meet mirsang and mix well.
Fry till the stuffing is almost dry.
Add chopped tentacles, (I used 2-3 squid tubes which had torn, were too thin and in danger of bursting when stuffing, you can also use baby shrimp or chopped shrimp)

Fry till almost dry. You want just a hint of moisture, else liquid will come oozing out when you fry the stuffed squid.

Add the chopped corriander and give it a quick stir.
Turn off the gas and let the stuffing cool a little before assembling.
Add salt to taste (the meet mirsang already has salt)
You can add a little lime juice, if you like the stuffing sour.


Stuff the squid tubes with the mixture.
Pin it shut with a toothpick (I soak my toothpicks in water for a short while (same principle as bamboo skewers)

Roll the stuffed squid in rawa and shallow fry, turning once

Serve hot.
Garnish with chopped corriander if you like.

Husbands verdict: The taste is awesome, but can you do anything about the look?
Response: I'm sorry dear, squid only come in one shape. LOL

Recipe : Squid / Calamari Chilly Fry

Don't get scared by the name. You can make this dish without the chillies too.

I had some squid in the refrigerator and was feeling very homesick and wanted to eat something that reminded me of home

Not the regular ubiquitous batter fried squid that is available in sea food restaurants in Egypt

So I searched online for some rough guidelines and liked the feel of the Kanava Thoran on NDTV cooks. As a Kerala speciality, I knew it would be very similar to food cooked in my home town.

The coconut in the recipe sealed the deal as I had some extra grated coconut that I had frozen from a few days ago and wanted to use up.

As usual, I modified the recipe to my own convenience.

I firmly believe that squid/calamari should not be cooked for more than 2-3 minutes, else it turns rubbery and tough.

A good squid recipe allows for the extra water that pours out of the squid to be absorbed (like this dish where the coconut absorbs the excess liquid) or it is deep fried (the sudden intense heat seals the liquid inside the squid pieces themselves) If you are trying to make a dry dish, then steam the squid first and then put the squid pieces into the cooked flavorings.

No such problem with this recipe. If you are looking for precise directions, follow this recipe

My version does not have exact amounts and I try to cook everything in one dish and make some shortcuts.

Ingredients :
About half kilo squid cleaned and cut into pieces of your shape and size
1 largish onion - chopped
Some curry leaves
some green chillies
a handful of grated coconut
some pureed tamarind
some dried red chillies
mustard seeds
oil
little garlic
some ground ginger

Heat the oil, when it is hot, add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and dry chillies. this is the tempering. (If you prefer you can do this in a seperate vessel at the end and then pour it over the prepared squid. In the interest of less washing up, I have tempered it right in the beginning in the main vessel)
Add garlic, semi fry it a bit, then add the chopped onions, ground ginger and green chillies. Fry for a while, remember the onions need to be crunchy (not soft, not browned, but crunchy)to the taste at the end of the preparation.

Add the grated coconut and tamarind paste/puree and salt. You can use lemon juice instead of tamarind paste, but the tamarind paste is more authentic and earthy in this dish.

Let this cook for a while and dry up a bit. The add the squid pieces and quickly saute for 2-3 minutes.

If the squid was frozen, it may not absorb much flavour, so the rest of the ingredients need to soak into the coconut and compensate for the flavor.

You can top off with some fresh cilantro/corriander/dhaniya if you like.

Eat with hot rice and dhal.