Malaysian Recipe : Squids in Assam Sauce (Sotong Asam)

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

• 600g squids, cleaned
• 3 large onions, cut into wedges
• 3 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
• ½ cucumber, remove the seeds and slice
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g tamarind with 100ml water (squeeze, remove seeds and retain the tamarind juice)
• 2 sprigs kesum leaves, discard stems

Ground to paste:

• 20g garlic
• 100g shrimps
• 5 pcs candlenuts
• 50g chilies
• 1 tsp belacan

Directions:

1. Marinade squids together with the ground ingredients for an hour.
2. Heat oil in a hot wok and stir fry marinated squids till fragrant.
3. Stir in kesum leaves together with onions and tamarind juice.
4. Cover with lid and allow to simmer until quite dry. Add in tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Add salt and sugar to taste. Serve with rice.