Calamari with a Sweet Hot Sauce--Cumi Goreng Pedas Manis

When I was working on Pulau Galang, the Indonesian refugee camp for refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia, I had to make regular trips to Singapore every three months to renew my visa.  All of the foreign workers in the camp had these special three-month visas rather than the typical one-year work visas so the government could easily prohibit us from returning to the camp if we caused any trouble.  As Singapore was just a couple of hours away by boat, and the process took three days, it was a nice break from the camp and a welcome change from the dining hall routine.

One of the dishes I have enjoyed on different visits to Singapore is the fried baby squid (although I think it's probably baby cuttlefish).  These are whole, baby cuttlefish that are first deep fried and then finished in a sweet sauce.  Done right, they are delicious.  Unfortunately, I've sometimes had them when the cook didn't do right by them and I was faced with a pile of cloyingly sweet, rubbery aliens from the sea.  Squid is one of those dishes that either is cooked right or is a disaster.  If the first time someone tries squid, the cook fucks it up, that person will probably never try squid again.

When I usually cook squid, which is not often, I use frozen squid, as this is what is most often available.  A few weeks back I noticed that Sunh Fish, where I buy most of my seafood, had some fresh squid in their case.  I didn't buy any at that time, but made note of it so that I might take advantage of some fresh squid next time they had some in when I was there.  That day came a few days ago and I bought a couple of pounds.

I had planned to make some grilled squid, cumi panggang, but when I got the squid home and cleaned them, I felt they were too delicate for such an approach.  Once cleaned, there were around thirty squid to a pound.  The bodies were extremely thin walled, about the thickness of a slice of skin from a careless moment with the mandoline.  Although I didn't think I could do them justice on the grill, I knew they would be great fried.

I intended to try the recipe from  The Food of Singapore, a book that I generally like.  After frying a few pieces of squid following its recipe, however, I decided to ditch that recipe and try my own approach.  The original recipe calls for a marinade in a batter of curry powder, cornstarch, soy sauce, and egg.  The fried squid tasted good, but didn't have the delicately crisp exterior that I prefer.  Discarding the wet ingredients, I kept the curry powder and cornstarch, and added some rice flour.  Dredging the squid in this mixture provided just the taste and texture I was looking for.

The sauce is even simpler.  To a half cup of Yeo's Sweet Chili Sauce, I stirred in about two tablespoons of kecap manis Cap Nonya. This was heated in a wok and then the fried squid were added and tossed with the sauce to coat.  The result was at least as good as any squid I've ever had in Singapore, or anywhere else.  If you like calamari, this is a dish I would definitely recommend.

Crispy  Fried Squid in a Sweet Hot Sauce

2 pounds small, fresh squid or 1 pound cleaned, frozen squid, thawed
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup rice flour
3 TBS curry powder
2 tsp sugar

oil for deep frying

1/2 cup Yeo's Sweet Chili Sauce  (I prefer Lingham's, but it wasn't at the market I went to on this day)
2 to 3 TBS kecap manis
water, as needed, to thin the sauce if necessary

Clean the squid and remove the eyes and beak from the tentacles.  Lightly score the inside of the bodies in a crosshatch diagonal pattern and cut into strips.  Dredge the prepared squid in the cornstarch mixture.  Fry in batches in hot oil for about 30 seconds.  Drain on paper towels.

After all the squid has been fried, heat the chili sauce and kecap manis in a wok or pan that  can easily accommodate the squid.  Toss the squid briefly in the heated sauce, plate, and serve.

Bak Kua--Coin of the Realm

Anyone who has a taste for pork and has spent any time in Singapore has probably not only tasted bak kua, but has come to long for it. In searching for a recipe for this, I came across many accounts of people trying to bring the pork into the US only to have it confiscated by customs agents. This also happened to my wife and me one time, even though the clerk at the shop in the airport in Singapore assured us there would be no problem bringing it in. We were trying to bring some back for my sister-in-law, who could probably wolf down a pound of this in one sitting. We have bought it for her on occasion here in the US, but a four ounce package (which is two small strips) is several dollars. Worse than the expense, it just doesn't taste as good. I won't claim that my recipe is as good as what you get in Singapore, but it's better than the packages you find in your local Asian market.

Ideally, the sheets of the prepared meat mixture would be dried in the sun, like drying krupuk. This would be possible in Sacramento in the summer, but not at this time of the year. Instead, I did as others have done and did the initial drying/baking in a very low oven. Once the sheets have been sufficiently dried/cooked, they are cut into smaller pieces and grilled. The pre-cooked sheets can be cut and frozen, stored for a final grilling when convenient. Serve them with cocktails and prepare to be worshipped.



I include links to recipes I tried before coming up with mine. They are all very similar with slight tweaks. I haven't been able to find rose wine or licorice powder, so I substituted rose syrup and ground fennel. Dry frying star anise and grinding it to a powder might also work. It's a recipe that allows plenty of room to tweak to your own personal tastes.

One addition to my recipe that you won't find in the others is pink salt (sodium nitrate). I would suspect that the original recipe for bak kua included saltpeter. This preserves the pinkish color in cured meats and can be found in old recipes for char siu. Sodium nitrite has largely replaced saltpeter because it apparently does a better job of killing bacterial nasties. Its inclusion in the recipe preserves the rosy color of bak kua and that slightly hammy taste. Leave it out and the bak kua will still taste ok, but it definitely is not as attractive.



Bak Kua/Bak Kwa--Singapore Jerky

2 1/2 lbs ground pork (should have at least 15% fat--pork shoulder is good)
2 TBS fish sauce
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS hoisin sauce
200 gr brown sugar
3 TBS honey
2 tsp ground fennel seeds
3/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp (3 grams) pink salt (sodium nitrite)
1 1/2 TBS vegetable oil

Mix ground pork with remaining ingredients. Cover tightly with cling-wrap and allow to marinate overnight. Spread mixture thinly on two jelly roll pans approximately 16" x 11". Put plastic wrap on top of the mixture and press down to spread as thinly and evenly as possible.



Bake the sheets in a preheated 180° F  oven for about 10 minutes. Carefully flip the sheets of meat over and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove and cut into photo-size rectangles or use a biscuit cutter to cut into "coins". Grill over medium heat on each side.

http://mumlovescooking.blogspot.com/2007/02/homemade-bak-kwa.html
http://rasamalaysia.com/bak-kua-malaysian-jerky/
http://chowtimes.com/2007/06/05/bak-kwa/
http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2005/06/dried-pork-long-yoke.html

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