← Nouns Cooking · Vietnamese

Ingredients

• 450 g cleaned squid tubes
• ¼ tsp Salt
• ¼ tsp Black pepper
• 2 tbsp oil, divided
• ½ Onion, cut into wedges
• 3 cloves Garlic, sliced
• 150 g fresh pineapple, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 Tomato, cut into wedges
• 1 Cucumber, sliced on the diagonal (optional)
• 2 celery sticks (or a handful of Chinese celery), cut into 5 cm lengths
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce
• ½ tsp Sugar
• 2 Spring onion, cut into 5 cm lengths

Method

1. Slit the squid tubes open, score the inside in a criss-cross pattern and cut into bite-size pieces. Pat very dry and season with the salt and pepper.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok over high heat until smoking. Stir-fry the squid for 1–2 minutes, just until it curls and turns opaque, then tip it out. Any longer and it turns rubbery.
3. Add the remaining oil and fry the garlic and onion for 1 minute. Add the pineapple and tomato and toss for 2 min until the tomato softens at the edges.
4. Add the cucumber and celery and stir-fry for 1 minute so they stay crunchy.
5. Return the squid with any juices, add the fish sauce, sugar and spring onion and toss for 30 seconds. Serve straight away with rice.

Tips

• Cook the squid in two batches if your wok is small; crowding makes it stew and toughen.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Delightful Plate Vicky Pham