Ingredients
| 10g (½ cup) dried, sliced shiitake | |
| 50g (1 small bundle) dried vermicelli (cellophane) noodles | |
| 6 squid bodies, fresh or frozen | |
| 250g pork mince | |
| 1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped | |
| 1 shallot, finely chopped | |
| 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped | |
| 2 dried chillies, finely chopped | |
| 1 red chilli, finely chopped | |
| 2 tablespoons fish sauce | |
| ¼ teaspoon white pepper | |
| pinch salt and sugar | |
| 2 spring onions, finely chopped | |
| ½ cup coriander, chopped | |
| DIPPING SAUCE | |
| 2 tablespoons rice vinegar | |
| 2 tablespoons palm sugar | |
| 1-2 red chillies, deseeded, finely chopped | |
| 1 tablespoon lime juice | |
| 2 tablespoons fish sauce | |
| TO COOK AND SERVE | |
| 2 tablespoons vegetable oil | |
| 2 handfuls iceberg lettuce leaves | |
| fresh herbs such as mint, Vietnamese mint, coriander and basil |
While I love the texture that cellophane noodles provide I’m often infuriated by the mess they make when trying to separate them out – I’ve found the solution is to buy packets where they are bundled into small portions of around 50g, which are perfect to use here. I used frozen squid bodies, but you could use fresh. Incidentally this mix is delicious used as a filling for dumplings.
Instructions
| 1. | Soak the mushrooms in 1⁄2 cup boiling water for 30 minutes. |
| 2. | Drain (reserve the soaking liquid for another use) and chop finely. |
| 3. | Cover the noodles in boiling water for 4 minutes, drain, refresh in cold water and roughly chop. |
| 4. | If you are using fresh squid, pull the head from body, remove the cartilage, rinse the squid and pat dry. |
| 5. | Discard the head, but finely chop the tentacles. |
| 6. | In a bowl combine the mushrooms, noodles and squid tentacles, pork mince, lemongrass, shallot, garlic, dried and fresh chilli, fish sauce, pepper, salt, sugar, spring onions and coriander. |
| 7. | Stuff into the squid body (but don’t overfill) and secure the filling with a toothpick. |
| 8. | DIPPING SAUCE |
| 9. | Put the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan with 1⁄4 cup water. |
| 10. | Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. |
| 11. | Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. |
| 12. | Stir in the remaining ingredients then taste and adjust the amount of lime juice and fish sauce if necessary to balance the flavour. |
| 13. | TO COOK AND SERVE |
| 14. | Heat a large frying pan over a medium-low heat, add the oil and add the squid to the pan. |
| 15. | Cook for 12-15 minutes, turning every so often. |
| 16. | Remove from the pan and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing. |
| 17. | Serve with the dipping sauce, lettuce and herbs. |
Recipes & food styling Ginny Grant / Photography Aaron McLean / Styling Ellen J Hemmings
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