This was one of those happy accidents that occurred. I had wanted to make some sort of sambal squid, and have it with steamed rice, and because I was too lazy to steam the rice, I decided I will just toss it in with the squid dish I was making, and cook it all in a claypot so I can go from stove to table without needing to wash a pot and serving dish separately.
When I eventually took a spoonful of the result, I couldn’t help but exclaim happily to myself: “You ARE a culinary Goddess!”
Well of course, I am biased. But since then I have tried to recreate the dish 2 more times and now that I am satisfied that I can consistently create it, I would like to share it in this blog post.
First, a little bit about the ingredients. I used small squids (about 8-10cm per squid, 6 in total) with roe for this. I just love roe. Don’t cut them too thinly because they might cook too quickly and end up tough. These are about 2cm thick. Then there are these 2 sauces: Kwong Cheong Thye Crispy Chilli and also the Lee Kum Kee Shrimp Sauce (or paste). I guess if you cannot find these substitutes can be used, but I am not sure if it will taste as good!
Ingredients:
- 6 small squids, preferably with roe (around 300-350g)- cut into rings
- 3 cloves garlic – minced
- 1 medium red onion – sliced
- 1.5 heaped tablespoon Crispy Chilli Sauce
- 1 rounded teaspoon fine shrimp paste
- 1.5 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1.5 teaspoon soya sauce
- 1.5 tablespoon ketchup (Heinz preferred)
- 1.5 teaspoon fine sugar
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 3 tablespoons spring onions – chopped
- 1 heaped rice bowl of overnight cooked rice
Instructions:
Heat the oil in a claypot in medium heat and sauté the garlic and onion, for a few minutes until onions start turning translucent.
Add in the crispy chilli and sauté for a minute to let the flavours meld together.
Add in the shrimp paste, stir to mix, then add in the fish sauce and soya sauce and continue to stir fry. Basically we are just layering in each sauce.
You should have something that looks like this. Now, turn the heat to medium high.
Add in the squid and keep tossing and turning the squid to ensure even cooking.
Until it’s about 50% cooked (around 1 minute), add in the sugar and continue to toss and turn the squid.
After another minute, the squid should be around 80% cooked and look like this.
Add in the cooked rice. Turn up heat to high. Fold in the rice and ensure that it’s properly mixed in. Break up the rice if it’s clumped together. Around 2 minutes. Add in the ketchup and continue to fold and mix for another minute or so. Use your gut feel to judge, the timings are only guesstimates and it all depends on the claypot and fire strength.
At this time, the Maillard reaction should happen as you see bits of brown charring starting to occur at the inner sides of the claypot. Scrape them with your spatula and blend them into the rice so they don’t get a chance to char. As the rice gets coated with the sauces it will start to become a tad sticky (a bit like a paella but not as wet). Once it looks like this, it is done. Turn off the fire.
Toss in the spring onions, then fold them into the rice. Let it rest for a couple of mins as the heat from the claypot continues to meld the flavours together.
Ready to serve! Good enough for 2 pax if you have other dishes with it. I ate all of these by myself!
Notes:
- You must use overnight rice that has been fridged. Do not cook fresh rice for this.
- I have tried it with both Jasmine rice and Japanese short-grained rice. Both work.
- Also cook with a claypot for the best effect, it gives it an added fragrance. Ensure you use a large enough claypot which allows you to toss the ingredients around properly.
When The Cat Lady Eats. 