1 lb Squid, cleaned
-Chinese-style (see below)
2 tb Fermented, salted black
-beans (available at Asian
-groceries)
2 Cloves garlic, minced
2 tb Rice wine, or 2 Tbs mirin
-or sherry
1 ts Ginger, grated
2 Scallions, chopped into
-1/2-inch pieces
1 Tb regular soy sauce
1 ts Sugar
1 ts Cornstarch dissolved in
1 tb Water
2 tb Vegetable oil
Many people shy away from dishes with names like Black Bean Sauce
Squid because they think it involves the preparation of a complicated
sauce. In fact it is quite easy. The black beans themselves,
fermented and salted when you buy them, are the sauce. All you do is
add a little rice wine to make a paste. Then it's just like any
other stir-fry++a couple of minutes of high-heat cooking,
continuously stirring, and the dish is done.
Prepare black bean sauce mixture by adding to the beans: rice wine,
soy sauce and sugar. Let sit for 15 minutes.
Saute garlic and ginger in the oil over medium heat in a heavy frying
pan or wok until garlic is slightly browned. Turn up heat. Add
squid and scallions. Stir-fry for 30 seconds. Pour in black bean
sauce mixture, and cook for 2 minutes. Add cornstarch and, when
sauce thickens, remove from heat and serve.
[Score squid diagonally at three quarter inch intervals. Turn and
repeat at right angles to original cuts. Don't cut all the way
through the squid body. Cut each scored squid body into three or
four pieces. When cooked, the squid will roll up and the
crosshatching will catch and hold the sauce. It's much easier to do
than to describe. S.C.]
From "The International Squid Cookbook" by Isaac Cronin,
