I learned this dish from a documentary about Macau’s cuisines. The main point of the documentary is to show how chefs, restaurants and average people cook dishes with influence, techniques, and elements from other cultures, such as Portugal and China. The chef, in the film, grew up in Portugal but has lived in Macau for over 40 years. He speaks perfect Cantonese but cooks Portuguese cuisines. It is certainly amazing to see how all those pieces come together.
I once cooked a Japanese stuffed squid dish, Ikameshi, which is stuffing squid with sticky (sweet) rice. It was disastrous as I was so impatient that I didn’t soak the rice overnight and simmer the stuffed tubes long enough. The resulting Ikameshi was hard to chew, and the rice was half cooked.
As the chef in the documentary mentioned, Portuguese recipes use simple ingredients: pepper, onion, tomato, white wine, paprika, and meat. He mentioned that white wine brings fruity and acidity to the dish. He warned that it is a dish need patience. To me, it’s fascinating to see how this dish evolves after it landed at Macau and well received by locals.
Portuguese Stuffed Squid 葡式酿鱿鱼
Equipment
- 1 10-12“ sauce pan
Ingredients
- 24 oz squid (tube+tentacles or the whole squid)
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 large onion
- 8 oz diced tomato (canned)
- 4-6 oz ground pork
- 3/4 cup white wine (no need to be accurate)
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp tomato paste (optional)
- 0.5-1 tsp salt
- sprinkle ground pepper
Instructions
- If you buy whole squids, separate the head/tentacles from the tube. Cut the eyes and innards to only keep the tentacles. Remember to remove the beak from the tentacles.
- Rinse the tubes, and remember to remove the cuttle (cuttlebone), which is a thin, clear sliver of cartilage.
- Finely chop the tentacles to 1/8" pieces. Add the ground pork to the chopped tentacles. Mix the tentacle and pork by a constantly moving the knife up and down.
- Once the tentacles and pork are thoroughly mixed, place the mixture to a mixing bowl. Add 2 tbsp white wine, 0.5 tsp salt, sprinkle some ground pepper, and mix thoroughly. Set the bowl aside.
- Finely chop the pepper and onion
- Place the sauce pan to the stove, turn heat to high, add 1 tbsp of olive oil, the chopped pepper, and 2/3 of the onion, and stir.
- After about 3 minutes, add the tentacle/pork mixture, and stir to mix. Add the tomato paste, bayleaf, and ground pepper. Mix and simmer at medium heat to reduce for about 3-4 minutes. Pour the mixture to the mixing bowl, and cool it down.
- Use a spoon to fill the tubes with the cooked mixture. Use a toothpick to seal the tubes openings. Finish all the tubes.
- Put the sauce pan back onto the stove. Turn heat to high, add oil, and add the remaining chopped onion. Stir until the onion sweats. Add the diced tomato, paprika, wine, and remaining tentacle/pork if there is any. Stir to mix.
- Place the stuffed tubes to the sauce. Heat to simmer. Turn heat to low. Cover the pan with a lid, and simmer at low heat for 25-30 mins.
- If there is a lot of juice, remove the cooked tubes, and turn heat to high to reduce. Adjust the flavor with addition of salt or sugar.
- Plate and serve
Video
Notes
- When remove squid innards, you would see the squid ink sac. You could harvest squid ink from the sac. The ink could be used to add flavor or color to other dishes, such as pastas or risottos.
- Instead of fresh ground pork and canned tomato, some recipes use chorizos and fresh tomatoes.
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