Passport & Plate - Squid Salad
Thailand | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 4 photos
Ingredients
Squid Salad Recipe (including the missing ingredient!)
Ingredients
2-3 squid hoods
3 cups mixed lettuce leaves
1 white onion thinly sliced
1-2 birds eye chillies seeded and thinly sliced
2 tablespoon freshly squeezes lime juice
2 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon palm sugar (or brown sugar)
1 cup fresh mint chopped
1 cup coriander chopped
¼ cup uncooked white rice
How to prepare this recipeMethod
Cut the squid hoods open. Clean and pat dry with a paper towel. Score the inside of tubes with a diamond pattern. Cut the tubes into 2cm long pieces. Place in a bowl, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate till needed.
Prepare the dressing. Juice the limes and add to a small bowl. Add the fish sauce, palm sugar and chillies. Stir together and adjust flavours to taste.
Heat the uncooked rice in a small wok or fry pan over low heat until rice turns golden brown. Transfer to a mortar and pestle and grind together until rice looks like a rough powder.
Wash and dry lettuce leaves, and place on a medium sized platter.
Steam squid in batches over boiling water in a steamer until tender (not chewy). When all squid has been steamed add to the platter. Mix through sliced onion, mint and coriander. Pour over dressing and give another mix through.
Sprinkle the ground rice over the top of the salad.
Serve and enjoy.
The story behind this recipeThe Missing Ingredient
My family and I were fortunate enough to spend four years living and working in very remote Indigenous communities across the Northern Territory of Australia. One of the communities was in the Top End of the Northern Territory, 450 km south/west of Darwin, the capital city. We were regularly ‘cut off’ by road for up to six months during the monsoon rains and floods. When we eventually made it to Darwin for some much needed R&R we were often over-awed by the size and business of the city coming from a small community of only 2000 people.
We would treat ourselves to some ‘city living’ and book into a luxurious hotel in the midst of the city. While scouring through the many tourist pamphlets that are often scattered around hotel rooms, I stumbled across one for a local market in a northern suburb. Somehow I convinced my husband and children that it would be a great family outing to hire bikes and cycle out to the market. We noticed that the bike track was fairly empty from fellow cyclists. It didn’t take long to realise why. The heat and humidity at that time of day was debilitating to say the least. We soldiered on.
Our arrival at the market was like stepping into another culture. We were surrounded by a myriad of market stalls with local, Asian produce. There were fruit and vegetables of all shape, colour and size; most of which we had never seen or tasted before. The smells and aromas that wafted through the market place were quite overwhelming. We were mesmerized! Our senses were enticed by almost everything we walked past and we weren’t too sure what to buy and taste.
I came across a small stall run by a couple of women from Thailand. They were frantically busy making a variety of Thai salads and dishes using locally grown produce. The freshness of the salads really caught my eye, and I purchased a Squid Salad. I had never tasted a combination of flavours such as this before. Succulent squid, fresh mint and coriander mixed with the most delicious spicy and tangy lime sauce. I was immediately ‘hooked’.
Years later we eventually made the move from the remote community into Darwin. It became our Saturday morning ritual to go to the markets before the humidity hit and buy our favourite selection of fruit, vegetables and cooked delicacies. Of course Squid Salad was always on the list. I devoured every Thai cooking book to try and find a recipe, but no matter how many different recipes I tried, my Squid Salad never tasted quite the same as what the Thai women made at the markets. Becoming more and more frustrated with our feeble attempt at Thai cooking we decided to ask the women what ingredients they used. We were greeted with the most beautiful smiles but very little English. Lots of hand gestures and mimes were exchanged and we went home to the kitchen to try again. In vain!
The following Saturday we walked up to the stall but stood back for a while watching as they prepared the various Thai dishes. Eventually a customer ordered a Squid Salad and we stood a little closer watching carefully. Just before the dish was handed over the woman put her hand into a mortar and pestle and took out a handful of a white, powdery substance and sprinkled it on top of the salad.
“That’s it!” We rushed forward to the front of the stall. Again the women greeted us with a beautiful smile of acknowledgment. “That’s it!” We said again pointing to the mortar and pestle. The women initially looked confused but gradually looked inside the mortar and pestle and started laughing and laughing! “Yes” we said “what’s inside?” Very simply and quietly the woman showed us a packet of plain rice. She took one handful and threw it into a battered, old frypan on top of a single gas burner. She slowly toasted the rice until the grains turned a golden brown. Carefully, she poured the grains into the mortar and pestle and ground them slowly together. Finally she took the ground, toasted rice and sprinkled it on top of a Squid Salad and served it to us with her beautiful smile. Ah! The missing ingredient!
