Taiwanese Squid: 3 Cup Squid

This is a stir-fry that really is more about the seasonings used in preparation and that are used more commonly for chicken, although squid is popular too. The "3 Cup" name is not to be taken literally as "a cup as a measurement," because it simply refers to the 3 liquid parts: sesame oil, rice wine, soy sauce."

You can buy squid cut into rings, or you can buy the cleaned "tubes" and cut them into rings or pieces yourself, and yes, you can buy some tentacles too, although I didn't buy any tentacles when I made the dish for the pictures in this article, even though I have used them in the past, and I used "tentacle" for the "Word History," see below.

 

If you choose to use "kecap (aka, ketjap) manis," it is a thick Indonesian soy sauce that is syrupy and sweet compared to the more commonly found soy sauces. Some supermarkets have it, but many Asian markets have it. My experience has been that it comes in taller bottles than what I'll call "regular" soy sauces. (Note: If you don't want to use kecap manis, you can mix regular soy sauce with sugar, which is what I did, even though I keep kecap manis on hand; see in the recipe). Shaoxing wine is a type of fermented rice wine made with yeast, and it is in some supermarkets and Asian grocery stores, but you can use other rice wine, like sake or mirin, but NOT rice vinegar. (Note: Mirin can be pretty sweet, so if you use mirin, skip using kecap manis, and use 2 1/2 tablespoons regular soy sauce with just 1 teaspoon, not tablespoon, of sugar mixed with it.) 

Serve with rice ...

 

Ingredients:  

12 to 16 ounces cut up squid

2 inch piece ginger, peeled and very thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic,chopped

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce mixed with 1 tablespoon sugar (or just use kecap manis and no sugar for this)

2 tablespoons rice wine (shaoxing, sake or mirin, but see note above about using mirin)

1 red or green chili, chopped (seeded if you prefer less heat)

1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with same amount of water

1/4 cup basil leaves (preferably Thai)

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil for frying

 

Have your ingredients ready to go before you start, as this dish doesn't take long to cook. Heat the vegetable or peanut oil in a skillet (or wok) over medium high heat, add the ginger and garlic, saute for 30 seconds, add the sesame oil and then, about 30 seconds later, the squid. Keep stirring the ingredients as they cook. After 1 minute, add the soy sauce, rice wine and the chopped chili, stirring continuously for another 1 minute. Add the cornstarch and water mixture, stir well, then add the basil and stir everything thoroughly for about 30 seconds, remove from heat and serve.

 

WORD HISTORY:

Tentacle-This word is related to "tender" (the verb form meaning "to hold out something to someone;" thus also, "to offer, to present to someone"), to "tend" (verb with the original meaning "to tilt toward a particular direction;" thus figuratively, "to have a preference toward something;" as in, "In winter, I tend to eat a lot of soup"), both Latin-derived words borrowed by English via French, and to the other verb "tend" (actually a shortened form of "attend," and meaning, "to give care or attention to someone or something"), another Latin-derived word, borrowed from French, but with Latin reinforcement, and to "tendon" (sinew, or connective band of tissue) a word borrowed from Latin (likely with some French reinforcement), which had it from Greek. "Tentacle" goes back to Indo European "ten," which had the notion "to stretch, to extend out, to draw out." This gave Latin "tendare," meaning, "to stretch out, to extend;" thus also, "to strive," "to go in a particular direction." This later gave Latin the noun "tentaculum," meaning "feeler, tentacle, hair-like fibers on some plants (carnivorous) that detect insects for consumption." English formed "tentacle" from the Latin word in the mid 1700s meaning, "long, highly flexible limb of some creatures, especially applied to squid and octopus."    

Chinese Red Braised Pork Belly: Hong Shao Rou

This is a pretty common dish in China, but there are variations in the dish. This was the first time I made this braised pork belly, and I must have looked over 20 recipes before I put together the recipe below. For those unaware, the pork belly used is raw, NOT cured and smoked, as that would make it "bacon," as this is the typical meat used for bacon. I ended up choosing to use brown sugar, but some Chinese use regular sugar, which they then caramelize during the preparation process, while other Chinese use a type of reddish/brownish rock sugar. A few recipes use cornstarch as a thickener for the sauce, but most recipes let the sauce thicken by natural reduction, and some cooks are adamant that cornstarch should never be used in this dish. The sauce gives the pork belly pieces a reddish or reddish, brownish tint that gives the dish part of its name. This is not really supposed to be a "spicy hot" dish, but some recipes do use a little dried hot chili flakes. I almost always have fresh hot chilies in the house, so I actually used a fresh chili when I made this, but use what you have, or you can even leave it out. I decided to go ahead and publish this recipe now, rather than wait until I tried any variation, like using regular sugar, but I thought you could have some fun making this yourself, so here we go. It is not hard to make. Ah, by the way, if you use cornstarch to thicken the sauce, I won't tell, but I want you to do me a favor, though... Ah, I take that back, no quid pro quo!
     
Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds pork belly, cut into 2 to 3 inch cubes/chunks, per your preference*
2 cups water 
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 inch piece of ginger, chopped or sliced (thinly)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 scallions (green onions), cut into about 2 inch pieces
10 to 12 Sichuan peppercorns
1 or 2 dried red chili(es) (or 1/2 to 1 teaspoon red chili flakes) 
2 star anise
1/2 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
3 tablespoon dark soy sauce
3 tablespoon light soy sauce
4 tablespoons brown sugar (this is in addition to the 2 tablespoons listed above)
serve with rice

Bring the water to a boil in a skillet or pan. Put the pork belly pieces into the boiling water and simmer for 4 or 5 minutes. Remove the pork, but save the now pork flavored broth. Heat a large skillet (or wok) over low heat, then add the oil and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Let the sugar melt into the oil and color the oil. Put the pork belly pieces into the oil and saute lightly for a few minutes, turning the pork to coat all pieces with the sugary oil. You want to turn and stir the pork carefully, so that the pieces don't come apart. Add the rice wine vinegar, the light and dark soy sauces, the saved hot pork broth; gently stir to mix. Now add the chopped ginger, chopped garlic, green onion pieces, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chilies, star anise and piece of cinnamon stick and bring the whole thing to a boil, then reduce the heat to keep a steady simmer. Cover the skillet/pan/wok with a lid or foil and let the pork belly braise until it is completely tender, including the layer of skin; this will likely take "about" an hour and a half (periodically remove the lid/cover to check the pork belly). Remove the lid or foil and add the remaining 4 tablespoons brown sugar. Do not cover again, but let the sugar dissolve and let the liquid evaporate a bit to concentrate the flavors and to let the liquid become more of a sauce. Serve with rice.

* Because pork belly has layers of meat and fat, with skin covering one side, it can be difficult to cut. If you have a nice sharp knife, you can easily cut the pork belly yourself, but if you don't have such a knife, you can try putting the pork belly into your freezer for a few minutes to help "tighten" it, and make it easier to cut, but you don't want it to actually freeze. Of course, you can also get your butcher to cut the pork belly into pieces for you.

WORD HISTORY:
Spade-This word is distantly related to "spoon," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and to "spatula," a word English borrowed from Latin, which had gotten the base word from Greek. It goes back to the Indo European root "speh" (flat piece of wood) and an elongated form "speh-deh," which had the notion of "flat piece of wood for doing work." This gave Old Germanic "spadon," meaning, "tool for digging up the ground, a spade." This gave Old English "spadu," with the same meaning. This then became "spade," with the ending "e" pronounced "eh/ah," before the modern pronunciation. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German "Spaten" (once spelled "spade," but pronounced "spawdeh"),^ Low German "Spaad," Dutch "spade" (pronounced "spawdeh"), West Frisian "spa" (?), North Frisian "spade" (as listed by the Brothers Grimm), Danish, Norwegian, Swedish "spade," Icelandic "spaði" (ð=th).

^ It's unclear whether the German form was a progression from Old High German or a borrowing from Old Saxon (Low German). I cannot find a form in Old High German, although that doesn't necessarily mean there wasn't one, but even the Brothers Grimm wrote that spade was a "fremd" word in Old High German. "Fremd" means "strange, unfamiliar, foreign," and English once used the same word.   

Shrimp with a Malaysian Touch

There are various recipes for shrimp in Malaysian cooking, and this is really my version of a recipe that sort of fits in with Malaysian style shrimp. As I note below, you don't have to go looking for special soy sauce, as you can use regular soy sauce, but just add a little molasses or brown sugar to sweet it up a bit. Further, you also don't need to buy curry leaves, an ingredient common in Malaysian and some other south Asian cooking. Curry leaves have nothing to do with curry powder. The leaves are a bit citrusy in taste, but you can substitute the zest of 1 1/2 limes. I first made this dish with tomato sauce and rice wine vinegar, but I had noticed some similar Malaysian recipes that simply used ketchup, so I tried it, and I found that I liked the ketchup version better. This dish was certainly not spicy hot, but rather the hot chili pepper gave it a little zip and that's what is intended; however, remember, as I've noted here before, hot chilies can vary tremendously in heat. I've actually had habanero chilies that were extremely mild, like a "1" on a scale of 1 to 10. On the other hand, I've had some jalapeño chilies that brought tears to my eyes. Further, cooking often reduces the punch of chilies a bit. Similar dishes in Malaysia are served with bread to help sop up the great sauce. 

Ingredients:

1 pound large shrimp, deveined
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped or grated ginger
2/3 cup mild red chilies (red bell pepper is fine), chopped 
1 hot red chili pepper
12 to 15 curry leaves, or zest of 1 1/2 limes
2 tablespoons soy sauce*
2/3 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons sesame oil
3 to 4 tablespoons oil

Add oil to skillet and set over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, mild chilies, hot chili and curry leaves. Cook until the ingredients soften, stirring often to prevent sticking or burning. Stir in the soy sauce, the ketchup and the sesame oil, mixing everything well. Add the shrimp and cook until just cooked through. Serve with rice or bread or both.

*  I used "Ketjap Manis," which is Indonesian soy sauce. It is syrupy and sweet. Some supermarkets or Asian markets will likely have "ketjap manis," but the keyword here is, "some." You can substitute regular soy sauce with some molasses, or even brown sugar, cooked together for just a few minutes.

Click on photo to enlarge ...

WORD HISTORY:
Shawl-The history of this word is difficult, but it "may" have originated from the textile town  "Shaliat" in southwestern India, also known as "Chaliyam, Saliyam, Chale." Historically that area of India was influenced by the Persians, Arabs and Portuguese. The idea is, "shawls" were produced in the town, which gave transliterated Persian "sal," seemingly originally with the meaning, "neck scarf." This was borrowed by Hindi and Urdu ^ and English borrowed the word in the mid 1600s with the heavy involvement of the English on the Indian Subcontinent. By the mid 1700s, the meaning had expanded to a "large piece of cloth used by women that is draped over the head that also covered the upper body." German borrowed the word from English as "Schal."  

^ Both Hindi and Urdu are Hindustani languages from the Indo-Aryan part of the Indo Iranian branch of Indo European. They are related to English, but much further down the family tree.

Filipino Adobo Chicken

If you're a regular reader here, you've likely seen the term "adobo" used by me several times, often, but not always, about Latino recipes. Filipino adobo does not have the same meaning as in "New World" cooking terminology. In some Latino cultures it is a dry kind of seasoning or seasoned salt, while in other Latino cultures it is a mixture of chilies, spices and a liquid component. In the Philippines it refers to a way of cooking by using a marinade for meat or seafood. The Spaniards, who colonized the Philippines from the 1500s until 1898, applied the name "adobo" to the cooking style already present in the Philippines, with the idea of marinating being the common connection to Latino cultures, where both liquid or dry seasonings are used to flavor and tenderize meat by marinating, but where the marinating product was given the name "adobo," not the preparation process.

You won't need salt, because the soy sauce has plenty. You can see, if you like a little heat, add a chili pepper or some cayenne. Chili peppers can vary in the level of heat, even the same kind of chilies. One jalapeño may be mouth-scorching, while the next may be so mild as to be similar to a bell pepper, so sample them and proceed accordingly. When I first made this dish, I used half of a fresh cayenne pepper, but it didn't even move the needle, so I added the other half, but it also didn't supply much punch, which goes to show how mild some "hot" chilies can be actually be, regardless of their name and reputation.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds chicken thighs or whole legs
8 to 10 black peppercorns, cracked a little to release flavor
1/3 cup white or rice vinegar
8 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2/3 cup water
(optional) 1 finely chopped jalapeño or serrano chili, or 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
(optional) cornstarch and water

In a large bowl or non reactive pot, place the chicken thighs, the peppercorns, the vinegar, the garlic, the soy sauce, the brown sugar, the chili pepper or cayenne and the bay leaves. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours. Turn the chicken at least once, preferably a couple of times, while marinating. Heat the oven to 350 (F). Remove the dish and marinade from the refrigerator and place the chicken thighs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil. Bake in the oven for 40 to 50 minutes, depending upon the size of the chicken thighs, until the skin is somewhat firmed up. Meanwhile, add the water to the marinade and then bring to a boil over medium high heat on the stove top, then reduce heat so that the marinade/sauce simmers very lightly for about 10 to 12 minutes, uncovered, until sauce is reduced, OR, mix some cornstarch and water together very well. Keeping the sauce simmering, gradually add the cornstarch to the sauce, stirring constantly, until you reach the desired thickness of the sauce. (Optional) If you want the chicken to be well coated with sauce (photo #2), after the sauce reaches the desired thickness, put the fresh from the oven chicken thighs into the pan and turn to coat. Cook for just a minute. Serve with rice.

Just with some sauce spooned over, or in the second photo, chicken coated in sauce

WORD HISTORY:
Soy-This word goes back to transliterated Chinese "tshi-yew," which meant "soy bean oil." This was borrowed into Japanese as transliterated "shoyu" and early Dutch traders to Japan took the word as "soja," which was borrowed by English in the last quarter of the 1600s, as "soya/soy." When I was a kid, it seems to me I heard "soya" used a lot in reference to the beans, but "soy" used for the famous sauce.