Pictorial: Squid Stir-Fried with Shrimp Sauce

[hzrt8w]

Squid Stir-Fried with Shrimp Sauce (蝦醬炒鮮鱿)

Shrimp sauce is commonly used in Southern coastal Chinese (e.g. Cantonese) cookings in stir-fried dishes. It is especially good with squid, ong choy [Cantonese] (hollow vegetable), and pork. This recipe features using shrimp sauce to stir-fry small squid.

Note: Cooking with shrimp sauce will produce some strong smells in the kitchen. It may take some getting used to.

Serving suggestion: 2

Main ingredients.

About 2 pounds of small squid. It may sound like a lot, but after cleaning and shrinkage the edible portion of the squid is not that much. Other main ingredients: garlic, ginger, green onion and shrimp paste.

With each small squid, cut off the tentacle portion. Trim and discard eyes and beak. Make a cut along the body. Remove and discard guts and tear off the outer purple-color membrane.

This cleaning process is very labor intensive. I would advise you to buy the preclean squid packages. They cost more on a pound-for-pound basis. Considering the unedible portions and the labor saving, it's well worth it.

Clean all squid and drain.

Boil a pot/pan of water. Add squids and about 5 slivers of ginger. Boil for about 3 minutes. Remove.

Drain the squid on a strainer. You can see that the squid shrink quite a bit when cooked.

Prepare other ingredients.

Mince about 3-4 cloves of garlic. Chop up 2 green onions, 1/2 inch in length. Cut 5 slices of chili (e.g. jalapeno). Shred some ginger, about 1 inch in length. Prepare 2-3 tsp of shrimp paste. 1-2 tsp of Shao Hsing cooking wine (contained in the cap).

Use a pan/wok. Heat it over high setting. Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil. Wait until oil starts fuming. Add minced garlic, sliced chili, shredded ginger and shrimp paste. (Note: no need to add salt because the shrimp paste is very salty.)

Stir well. Cook the shrimp sauce for about 10 seconds and let the fragrance develops. Quickly dash in the cooking wine. It may induce a small flame which lasts a fraction of a second. Keep stirring.

Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth into the mixture. Add 1 tsp of sugar. Stir well. Continue to heat until boiled. If the sauce is too runny, use a small amount of corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce.

Re-add the squid. Add chopped green onions.

Keep stirring and cook for another few minutes. Done.

The finished dish.

Edited October 20, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[Tepee]

Ah Leung Gaw, you're really relieving us from dinner planning by having such a wide repertoire of dishes. "Hmm...what should I cook for today? Let me consult Ah Leung's food pictorials."

On a food presentation note...I score the squid diagonally left and right.

Edit: tks, gus....just squished the 's' from my squid.

Edited October 20, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[helenjp]

I have the same brand of Chinese cooking wine !

I'm also glad to see that I'm not the only one who finds cleaning lots of those small young squid a bore and a chore. It seems to go best if I can use an old clean cloth to rub/pull the skin off.

[hzrt8w]

On a food presentation note...I score the squids diagonally left and right.

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I would too if the squid are bigger. With the small ones, one cross cut from the chef knief would cut them in half. Oops!

Edited October 20, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[gus_tatory]

thanks for the pictorial~!

if i can't get Shao Hsing, can i substitute 'real' mirin (15% alcohol), sake, or sherry?

also, hzrt8w: have you ever tried salt and pepper squid? do you know what the ratio of salt to Szechuan peppercorn is in the seasoning mix?

thanks in advance,

gus

edit to add: just a tiny grammar note, which didn't at all detract from my enjoyment of your post: in English, even in the plural, 'squid' is singular. i know: it's weird. don't try to understand it...

Edited October 20, 2005 by gus_tatory (log)

[hzrt8w]

if i can't get Shao Hsing, can i substitute 'real' mirin (15% alcohol), sake, or sherry?

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Sure. Sake and Shao Hsing taste very similar. (You mean haven't drunken some of them? ) Sherry may be a bit too sweet. Rice based wine would be the best.

also, hzrt8w: have you ever tried salt and pepper squid?    do you know what the ratio of salt to Szechuan peppercorn is in the seasoning mix?

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Do you mean eating them or cooking them? If it's me, I would mix the salt and Szechuan peppercorn (powder) 1:1.

Edit to note: Thanks for the grammar tip. I know "squids" looked weird but couldn't tell what it was. Corrected. Thanks.

Edited October 20, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[Ben Hong]

Um...err.. uh..Ah Leung, beggin' your pardon, but did really mean 2-3 tablespoons of shrimp sauce in your dish, or was it 2-3 teaspoons? I would find that 2-3 tablespoons of the stuff in a single dish would not be palatable. ...too salty.

Again, no effrontery meant.

[hzrt8w]

Um...err.. uh..Ah Leung, beggin' your pardon, but did really mean 2-3 tablespoons of shrimp sauce in your dish, or was it 2-3 teaspoons? I would find that 2-3 tablespoons of the stuff in a single dish would not be palatable. ...too salty.

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2-3 teaspoon is correct.

I thought that the short for teaspoon is "tsp" and tablespoon is "tblsp". Is this a standard? No? Are there any abbreviation standards? Maybe I need to spell them out every time? These darn names both abbreviated to ts.

Edited October 20, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[Pan]

[...]just a tiny grammar note, which didn't at all detract from my enjoyment of your post: in English, even in the plural, 'squid' is singular. i know: it's weird. don't try to understand it...   

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Well, according to Merriam-Webster, either form is acceptable for the plural.

[...]I thought that the short for teaspoon is "tsp" and tablespoon is "tblsp".  Is this a standard?  No?  Are there any abbreviation standards?  Maybe I need to spell them out every time?  These darn names both abbreviated to ts.

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Ah Leung, your abbreviations are the ones I'm familiar with, for whatever that's worth.

How salty and shrimpy does the ultimate dish taste? I'm not too familiar with that type of shrimp sauce and very familiar with the much darker Malaysian/Indonesian belacan/terasi.

[pcbilly]

Ah Leung:

Another great pictorial !

I can smell the shirmp sauce just by looking at these pictures.

Can you tell us the brand of shrimp sauce that you use ?

Also, this dish is similiar to one of my favour Cantonese dish - sour pickled vegetable squid (酸菜炒鮮鱿).

Can I make 酸菜炒鮮鱿 by substituting salted balck bean and sour pickled vegatable for the shrimp sauce ?

Thanks

William

[hzrt8w]

How salty and shrimpy does the ultimate dish taste? I'm not too familiar with that type of shrimp sauce and very familiar with the much darker Malaysian/Indonesian belacan/terasi.

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Michael: Thank you for checking my sanity.

Re: Chinese shrimp sauce versus Malaysian/Indonesian belacan/terasi. I have not used the Malaysian/Indonesian counterparts so I have no comparison. But I heard that the Chinese shrimp sauce is milder, less salty. Sometimes it seems to me that the Chinese shrimp sauce is more salty than "shrimpy" in taste.

2 teaspoons should make this dish delightfully flavored without an overpowering shrimpy/salty taste. If one wants it saltier or heavier in shrimp taste, add some more sauce.

[hzrt8w]

Can I make 酸菜炒鮮鱿 by substituting salted balck bean and sour pickled vegatable for the shrimp sauce ?

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William: I have not made this dish before. But if I were to make it, I would keep the chili slices and garlic but skip the ginger and green onions. I would also add a pinch of salt (because not using shrimp sauce), and more sugar (e.g. 3 teaspoons) to balance the sourness of pickled mustard greens. Should be a delicious entree too!

[Ben Hong]

Ah Leung, 10,000 apologies. Indeed you are right it does read "tsp" (teaspoon). (I should be wearing my glasses after midnight).

[muichoi]

Nice dish-with the squid we get here, I prefer to use larger ones, and i cook much more quickly-blanch just until the scored squid just curls up, then cool with iced water, the final frying done very fast-perfectly tender squid this way. I also sometimes like to use a mixture of reconstituted dried squid and the fresh.

[I_call_the_duck]

Ah Leung,

Thanks for the great pictorial. I love viewing them, because they remind me of forgotten dishes that I need to add to my repertoire. Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t like shrimp sauce, so if I want to eat it, I need to get him out of the house--not that the smell won't drive him away!

BTW, other accepted abbreviations are "T" for tablespoon, "t" for teaspoon, and "#" for pound.

[BarbaraY]

That looks delicious. Is that Koon Chun Brand Shrimp Sauce? It looks like their label.

[hzrt8w]

That looks delicious. Is that Koon Chun Brand Shrimp Sauce? It looks like their label.

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Yes it is. That's what I use.