Stuffed Squid in Rich Tomato Sauce

As we sailed amongst the islands off the west coast of Borneo, we could purchase fish and squid from the fisherman that visited us. We bought the squid used for this recipe from a fisherman at Pulau Bawal. The fish I used to stuff the squid was a mackerel for which we’d traded a mobile phone and a pair of sunnies. I also had one tomato, some leftover cooked rice, shallots, garlic and chillies.

Table of Contents

Ingredients

For squid stuffing
about 1/2 cup of leftover cooked rice
a small fillet of mackerel (finely chopped) about 100g
1 large red chilli, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped,
5 small Asian shallots, finely chopped
about 1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

For the tomato sauce
8 small asian shallots, chopped
1/2 head of garlic (about 6 cloves), chopped
3 small hot chillies, finely chopped
1 large red chilli, chopped
about 80g anchovy fillets
2 Tablespoons capers, chopped
1 can of tomatoes, diced
3 Tbs tomato paste
dried Italian herbs and black pepper to taste.

Method

For the squid

Mix the stuffing ingredients and stuff into the squid tubes. Close each tube with a toothpick. Cook the squid tubes for 5 mins to brown them slightly, then remove them from the pan.

For the tomato sauce

Heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Saute the shallots for a minute. Add the garlic, chillies and anchovies and cook for another minute.

Add the capers, tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs and black pepper. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the stuffed squid tubes and simmer to develop the flavour. It is ready when it is rich and spicy, and the squid is cooked through (add a little water as necessary).

I served the squid with rice.

Use the leftover sauce

I used the leftover sauce the next day with some mackerel fillets. I cooked the mackerel, then added the sauce to the pan with the fish and simmered until heated. I served it with pasta. Yum!