Sweet & Sour Squids

Before I came over to SA, I did not expect that it will be a problem getting fresh seafood over here, especially when I live in the eastern province just along the coastline. When it comes to seafood, what I've seen in the supermarkets were really miserable. Selection of fresh seafood is rather limited and worse of all, they look stale and it seems like they've been sitting on the shelves for days. This is definitely disappointing for a huge seafood lover like myself.

And then I had a thought, maybe the locals only eat beef and lambs but not seafood? But a quick check on my Middle Eastern cookbook confirm otherwise, because there are quite a number of seafood recipes in the book. So where do the locals get their fresh seafood then?

Just when I thought I would not get any chance to cook any seafood dishes, we happened to drive past a shopping street selling all sorts of fresh produce, from butchery, to vegetables stalls and.... a row of shop houses selling seafood! We did not get down the car then because it was prayer time and all the shops were closed. It would be crazy to wait for the shops to open under such intense heat and so we had no choice but to leave for our next destination. Throughout the whole day, I was very excited and all I could think of was all sorts of seafood dishes and nothing else.

The next day, we made a trip to that shopping street again. After visiting the shops, all I can say is, the shops sell more or less the same stuffs. In a typical shop, there are about 6 to 7 types of fish, a counter with 1 type of prawns, and a bucket of squids. Even though the variety is still limited but at least the seafood looks fresh. I was happy enough with what I saw and we went home with some fish and half a kilo of squids which was later being used to cook a sweet & sour squids dish.


Sweet & Sour Squids Recipe

Ingredients:
300g squids
1 stalk spring onion (chopped)
1 onion (cut into wedges)
3 dried chilli (soaked and chopped)
3 garlic cloves (chopped)

Seasoning:
3 tbs tomato sauce
3 tbs chilli sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tbs lime juice

Method:
1) Wash the squids, remove the innards and then cut into pieces. Blanch with boiling water, then drain and set aside.
2) Heat up 3 tbs of oil and then stir-fry onion, garlic cloves and dried chilli until fragrant.
3) Add in seasoning and squid, stir constantly over high heat until aromatic or the sauce is slightly thickened.
4) Sprinkle with chopped spring onion, stir well. Dish up and serve.