Korean Calamari with sushi rice

This adventure in food included me:

1. Trying a new recipe courtesy of Nigella Lawson’s cookbook, “Kitchen”
2. Eating squid.  I LOVE SQUID
3. Totally messing up the cooking of sushi rice and having to re-cook it

Serves two people

INGREDIENTS

• 150g Sushi rice
• 6 baby squid (defrosted)
• 2 tbsp rice wine
• 2 tbsp Korean Gochujang paste
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp groundnut oil
• 75g baby corn cut into 1cm pieces
• 3 large or 6 small spring onions sliced

METHOD

Before going onto the method for this simply delicious dinner….

• If your baby squid is not quite defrosted, run in under cold water until it’s ready
• Gochujang paste is available in Waitrose.  From what I can see online, both Tesco and Sainsbury’s stock a sauce but I’d advise sticking to the paste if you can get it purely because the sauces are a lot more liquid which your rice shouldn’t be swimming in

• You can use alternatives to non-flavour oil to groundnut such as rapeseed or vegetable oils

METHOD

1. Make sushi rice as per packet instructions – see my drama with this rice below

2. Cut the calamari into rings and soak in the rice wine for 15 minutes.  Keep the tentacles, they are also very tasty!

3. Remove the calamari from the rice wine and add the Gochujang paste, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil to the wine

4. I used a wok here.  Heat up the wok with the groundnut oil.  I always use a bit of kitchen towel to spread the oil over the entire surface of the wok to coat the pan and allow for the oil to be heated up evenly

5. Stir fry the vegetables for two minutes

6. Add the calamari and cook for two minutes

7. Add the sauce and cook for a further 30 seconds, or until piping hot

When cooked serve with the sushi rice

SUSHI RICE DRAMA

I’ve only recently taught myself how to successfully cook white fluffy rice.  It’s quite embarrassing really!

Generally I don’t eat refined white breads, rice etc.  But sometimes, particularly with curries, basmati rice is my preference.  But, despite what I learnt about cooking white rice (thanks, Jamie Oliver), I followed the instructions on the Waitrose pack of sushi rice.  No pre-washing, nothing – measure out the rice and water, pop in a pan and wait 18 – 20 minutes.

Waitrose, your instructions for cooking this rice are incorrect.  It turned into a soggy mass of starch whilst I stood there the entire cooking time keeping an eye on it.

The disaster rice, cooked according to instructions

Take two: I followed Jamie Oliver’s instructions and remade the rice.  Successful white sushi rice.  Not gloopy!

Sushi rice according to Jamie Oliver’s perfect fluffy rice

I hope you try this recipe out.  It took under 30 minutes to cook and was delicious, I can foresee this becoming a regular meal for me and I’m looking forward to exploring more ways to cook with Gochujang paste.

Natasha