Ingredients:
- Six baby squid, cleaned
- A handful of raw tiger prawns (these should be grey – don't buy pre-cooked pink prawns if you can help it)
- Half a stem of lemongrass
- A small bunch of coriander
- Small piece of ginger
- Light soy sauce
- White pepper
- Vegetable oil
Put the tubes aside – we'll stuff those in a moment – and mince, blend or finely chop the tentacles, along with the prawns, ginger, lemongrass and coriander. Add a small dash of soy sauce and plenty of white pepper. Be sure to chop that lemongrass well – you don't want any large woody bits in your meal.
Next, gently stuff the filling into the squid tubes. This can be a tedious job, but don't let the squid win! And don't fill the tubes completely – the filling will swell, so you need to leave a bit of space. Once you've prepared all the squid, seal the open ends using cocktail sticks.
Now, you may have noticed that I didn't supply any precise measurements earlier, for the amount of prawn to use. If you have made too much of the stuffing, like I just did, then don't panic – we'll make some Thai fishcakes! Just add a few breadcrumbs (Chinese 'Panko' breadcrumbs are probably the best to use) to mop up any excess moisture. Add a heaped teaspoon of tom yam paste, and mix well until the stuffing takes on all the red colour from the paste. Roll into small balls about the size of a 2p piece, then flatten them and fry in some hot vegetable oil until golden; drain on a piece of kitchen roll.
Back to our stuffed squid, which you will now need to steam, covered, over boiling water for exactly eight minutes - any longer and the squid will become chewy. While you're steaming the squid, you might want to make some other accompaniments for your meal, such as some stir-fried vegetables (spring onion, beansprouts, mushrooms and cucumber in my case, along with some boiled sticky rice.)
When the squid is cooked, remove it from the hob and, in a frying pan, heat a little vegetable oil until it just starts to give off smoke. Remove the cocktail sticks from the squid and fry it until golden and crispy – maybe 30 seconds at most – and watch out for splashing (caused by water hitting the hot oil) and jumping squid, because they will jump around your pan, which is quite entertaining if, like me, you're easily pleased.
Serve with a dip of oriental chilli sauce, or some rice wine vinegar with a pinch of sugar and some chopped red chilli in it.
