This week is dedicated to those marine cephalopods of the order Teuthida or calamari or as the pickiest eater in the family used to squeal when offered a menu in Goa, “ummmm squiggg!” Squig, sorry, squid is one of those ingredients like beef, corn niblets and some others that peaks twice in the cooking process: early on or later.

People who claim to be disgusted by the texture and chewiness have probably unfortunately eaten squid cooked only to a point in the middle where it tastes like if rubber tyres and chewing gum had a fishy baby. And no, if you’re asking, it shouldn’t taste fishy at all.
I chanced upon one secret to tender squid while surreptiously rummaging through the fridge of the now sadly shut Olive Ridley Restaurant in Goa. I was looking for butter (and you can’t prove I wasn’t) and I saw the prep trays hosting what would be later transformed into the succulent hoops the chefs served every day: layers of cleaned squid, marinating in nothing more than crushed, chopped garlic and lemon. The antibiotic properties of garlic are well known — so perfect on fish. And left long enough, the lemon breaks down the tough fibres in the squid. Kiwi juice, milk, raw papaya, pineapple are all used as tenderisers as well on squid. Cooking times of course remain imperative to tender squid (see note). A little experimentation though is all that’s needed — this is a great ingredient to add to your repertoire.

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Butter Garlic Herb Squid
This is the simplest way to serve squid. It’s great as a starter but if you want to bulk it up to stand alongside other entrees then go the ‘moules marinieres’ way and see the note below.

Ingredients
300 gms squid cleaned
4 heaped tbs of chopped garlic*
4 tbs chopped fresh parsley *
Juice and zest of two lemons
Salt to taste
1 tbs butter
2 tbs olive oil

Method
Dry the squid and massage with the garlic and lemon juice and zest. Leave in a glass bowl, covered in cling film over night or for at least 3 hours. Cut across into ½ cm rings. (If you’re not confident about doing this yourself, your fishmonger will deftly manage it after cleaning the squid and you can marinate it sliced as well.) When you’re ready to serve, heat a pan to very hot, throw in the garlic, give it a stir. Then throw in your squid rings (leave the marinating juices aside — add them to a pot of boiling water to flavour pasta or risotto instead) and very, very briskly on a very high heat stir the squid around for not more than 3 minutes. Turn the heat off. Leave in the pan for another minute. Garnish with parsley, pepper and mount with butter.
*For an Asian twist try marinating the squid in 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and the juice of 4 tablespoons of grated ginger (which is very tenderising). Soy will provide salt. Garnish with fresh basil or coriander after cooking.

Note:
Re-create the classic French mussels recipe by adding two glasses of dry white wine and a splash of cream. Take a large, deep pot (the bottom of your pressure cooker will work perfectly). Toss the garlic around in hot olive oil until it turns translucent. Throw in one glass of wine. Bring to a boil. Throw in the squid rings with the marinating juices and the next glass of wine. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat off immediately. Stir in the parsley, some pepper and a splash of cream if you want. Serve in bowls with big wedges of fried potato, a little mayonnaise and chunks of baguette that your guests tear off at the table to dip into the delicious juices.

Rawa Fried Squid
This seafood restaurant staple is worth perfecting for parties at home. My brother has a secret recipe that produces perfect, crisp squid rings each time, which we serve with the prior week’s Tomato Vodka Sauce. But he’s refusing to tell. This recipe works just as well though.

Ingredients
300 gms squid cleaned
Spice marinade*
1 cup maida or rice flour
Pinch of baking soda
1 cup rawa
2 eggs salted and beaten
Oil for deep frying

Method:

Cut the squid into rings and marinate it in a spice mix of your choice. Marinate for 3 hours or overnight. Remove the squid from the marinade. Heat oil in a wok large enough for a decent batch. Mix flour and baking soda and put on a plate. Dredge lightly through the flour to ‘dry’, shake off excess flour. Then dip in the egg, roll in the rawa, making sure you avoid creating too many lumps. (Keep a damp cloth on the side to wipe your hands between dredgings and frying.) Pop one breaded squid ring into the hot oil. It should go down and gently bounce back up within 4/5 seconds. Let it cook for a minute and remove it before it gets too brown. (It will continue to brown outside for a bit.) Taste it. Less time? More salt? Now fry the squid in batches so they don’t stick to each other. Keep in mind, as the oil gets hotter your squid can burn before it cooks so keep adjusting the temperature of the oil. Drain and serve with wedges of lime.
* A nice vinegary Goan inspired vindaloo paste (cumin and coriander powders, ginger, turmeric, red chillies, vinegar, a pinch of sugar, salt) or just ginger, garlic, chillies, lemon and salt are basic marinades. You could also source garlic and onion powder, lots of freshly ground black pepper for a more subtle flavour.

Squid Marinara with conchiglie
Now this is a slow-cook squid recipe where you simmer for ages so that the tomatoes break down, the tough squid muscle fibres have time to soften and all the flavours have time to meld. What’s super cool is that the squid and the sauce both need 30 minutes to reach perfection and that is serendipitous, no?

Ingredients:
300 gms cleaned squid cut into squares
8 tomatoes
8 cloves of garlic*
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup olive oil
Conchiglie (shell pasta) enough for two people

Method:
Crush the garlic and chop it fine. Chop the tomatoes roughly or puree them if you want a smoother sauce. Put half a cup of olive oil into a heavy bottomed pan and sauté the garlic in it. When the garlic is pale gold (but not brown!) throw in the tomatoes and stir around until they start to lose their liquid. Then add the squid, give it a stir, season with a little salt and some pepper. Half cover the pot and leave it to simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. If the sauce begins to dry, add a splash of water or even white wine. Twenty minutes into cooking, put your pasta on the boil. Cook it for two minutes less than recommended on the box so that the pasta is cooked but far from ‘done’ (very al dente). You can use spaghetti but conchiglie goes nicely with our sea theme and scoops up the sauce brilliantly. When the squid is tender, drain the pasta and put it into the sauce and simmer until the pasta is cooked. Five minutes max. Check seasoning, shred the fresh basil and stir it in (with the fresh garlic if you’re doing it that way.) Serve immediately. (If you don’t want to serve immediately, don’t put the pasta in. You can boil it later and mix it at the table.)

*Note: You can throw in the chopped garlic right at the end of the cooking which yields a spicier sauce that is very delicious too and keeps a lot of the cool medicinal properties of garlic intact.