A summer Thai squid salad
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When I can find fresh squid at the fish market, I like to make this squid salad from Bruce Cost’s terrific book ‘Asian Ingredients: A Guide to the Foodstuffs of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.’ The book is brilliant because the former columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle first describes how to buy each unfamiliar ingredient, how to use it and also gives a recipe or two for a dish you can make with it. But these aren’t just any recipes. They’re his own and every one I’ve tried has been astonishingly delicious. Not for nothing does Alice Waters call him “one of the greatest cooks I’ve every known.” I would certainly second that.
To make his Thai squid salad, clean a pound of squid, cutting off the tentacles and scoring the bodies in a diamond pattern and then cutting into six or so pieces. Boil the squid with a thinly sliced celery stalk for 20 seconds. Drain and rinse under cold water. Pat dry.
Mix 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce with 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 1 teaspoon sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir in 1 teaspoon chile oil, 2 teaspoons peanut oil and 2 finely minced garlic cloves.
Arrange a peeled, seeded and sliced cucumber on a platter. Toss the squid and celery in the dressing. Add some chopped coriander, minced scallion (the white part only) and a finely chopped red chili pepper. Arrange over the cucumbers and serve.
The way bookstores pull books off the shelves these days, Asian Ingredients may not be stocked at Borders or any of the other chain bookstores, but it is available from amazon.com and a number of used bookstore sites. Try to find the revised (and expanded) 2000 hardcover or the 2003 softcover edition rather than the original 1988 edition. And while you’re at it, if a copy of ‘Ginger East to West ‘(1984, revised 1989) or ‘Big Bowl Noodles and Rice’ (Morrow, 2000) turns up, grab that, too. You won’t be sorry.
—S. Irene Virbila