Care for squids? Squids, also known as sotong in Malay (and Hokkien), is great when cooked in sambal. It cooks pretty fast and usually, it is best not too cook it for too long or it might become chewy. To prepare it for cooking, push the “head” apart and reach into the “body / cavity” for a plastic-like strip. Remove that and wash the sotong clean.

I had been wanting to get rid of the leftover Sarawak Laksa paste which was lying in the fridge and last Saturday’s trip to the wet market gave me an opportunity when the fishmonger had some really fresh sotongs on sale. So, I bought 300 grammes worth of sotong and was drooling in anticipation of what I was going to cook that night. I also bought some lime to give this dish a slight tangy and refreshing taste to it. Otherwise, it would be too much of a plain sambal taste.

This is my recipe for Stir-Fried Sotong with Sarawak Laksa Paste

Ingredients

• 300 grammes squid / sotong (washed and cleaned and cut across into 2 cm tubes)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sarawak laksa paste
• 6 lime (squeezed for the juice)
• 3 to 5 pieces kaffir lime leaves
• 2 medium sized onions (chopped roughly)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 30 to 50 ml warm water

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoon sugar
• Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in wok and saute onions till fragrant. Add sarawak laksa paste and stir well for 30 seconds. Add sotong, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, water and seasoning whilst stirring. Sotong is cooked when it curls up.

Serve with plain white rice or coconut rice.