Squid and Prawn Salad

March 29, 2004

I was visiting my favourite fishmongers the other day when I noticed they had some bags of small frozen squid hoods for sale so I was immediately tempted.

While I have purchased whole squid from time to time, I am not that keen on the tentacles and I like the convenience of ready cleaned hoods.

Squid always remind me of a meal we had at a seafood restaurant when our sons were small. The boys loved the fisherman's basket - a variety of crumbed fried fish, shellfish and squid rings. They were busily tucking into their meal when Ben started gesturing and turning a strange colour. He was gagging on something so I had to shove a finger in his mouth to investigate.

He'd been eating a squid ring which had become a long piece of squid. When he swallowed, only half went down, leaving the attached remainder in his mouth. Fortunately I managed to pull it out and his normal demeanour and colour were restored. It obviously made a big impression on him as he recalled it recently when he ordered some chargrilled squid when we had a meal out. At least the experience didn't put him off squid for life.

Today's Thai-inspired dish is quick to put together and has a nice combination of flavours that typify Thai cuisine.

Squid and prawn salad

250g small squid hoods
200g peeled raw prawns
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons chilli paste or fresh deseeded chopped chillis
1 medium red onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons finely chopped lemon grass
3 tablespoons finely chopped mint
1 good-sized coriander plant, finely chopped (including stems)

Using a sharp knife, open out the squid tubes and score the insides diagonally in crisscross fashion. As the squid cooks, it will curl up and the scoring makes an attractive pattern that also helps hold the sauce. If these are larger squid hoods, cut the scored squid into smaller pieces.

Put the water, fish sauce, lemon juice and chilli paste or chopped chillis in a large saucepan. Add the squid and simmer until tender - anything from 5 to 15 minutes. Towards the end of cooking add the prawns and simmer until they are cooked through. Set aside to cool in the cooking liquid. Check the seasoning, adding more fish sauce or lemon juice if required.

When the fish is at room temperature, stir in the remaining ingredients then tip into a serving dish and serve with a tossed salad. The cooking liquid serves as a dressing.