Stuffed Squid

The tubes are filled only half full and pinned shut, because squid shrinks hard and rice swells.

Shellfish. Not vegetarian — contains shellfish, tentacles.

Ingredients

the squid

• 12 medium squid, cleaned, tubes and tentacles kept separate

the filling

• 200 g short-grain rice, rinsed
• 1 onion, very finely chopped
• the chopped tentacles
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• a large handful of parsley, chopped
• a handful of mint, chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground caraway
• salt and black pepper

the sauce

• 3 tablespoons tomato purée
• 400 g chopped tomatoes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon harissa
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 500 ml water
• juice of 1 lemon

Method

1. THE TUBES ARE FILLED ONLY HALF FULL AND PINNED SHUT, because squid shrinks hard and rice swells. Both things happen at once and they work against each other: a squid tube contracts to perhaps two-thirds of its raw length in the pan, while raw rice roughly doubles. A tube packed full will split along its side within twenty minutes and empty into the sauce. Half full looks absurdly slack and is correct -- they finish plump and whole. A cocktail stick through the open end holds it; sewing or tying is unnecessary and tends to cut the flesh as it shrinks.
2. THE TENTACLES GO IN THE FILLING, CHOPPED. Not discarded and not left whole on the plate. They are the squid flavour inside the rice, and chopped small they cook through in the same time.
3. THE RICE GOES IN RAW. Rinsed, uncooked, mixed with the onion, tomato and herbs. It finishes inside the tube, taking up the sauce that seeps in, which is where the filling gets its taste. Pre-cooked rice turns to paste over forty minutes.
4. THEY ARE NOT BROWNED FIRST. Straight into the simmering sauce. Searing a stuffed tube tightens the flesh immediately and is the other way they split, and it adds nothing -- the dish is braised, not fried.
5. IT IS SIMMERED GENTLY FOR FORTY MINUTES, NOT BOILED BRIEFLY. Squid is either cooked in two minutes or in forty, and anything between is rubber. Since the rice inside needs forty minutes, the long route is the only one available -- and at the end the squid is tender again.
6. THE SAUCE ONLY COMES TWO-THIRDS UP THE TUBES. Five hundred millilitres. They release liquid of their own, and the sauce should finish thick enough to coat rather than as a broth.
7. THE LEMON GOES IN AT THE END. Off the heat. Squid and tomato both want acid, and simmered for forty minutes it would be gone.
8. The squid cleaned, the tubes kept whole and the TENTACLES CHOPPED small.
9. The RAW rinsed rice, onion, chopped tentacles, tomatoes, parsley, mint, olive oil, caraway and seasoning mixed.
10. Each tube filled only HALF FULL and the open end PINNED with a cocktail stick.
11. THE SAUCE: the olive oil heated, the onion softened, the garlic and harissa in for 1 MINUTE, the purée fried 2 MINUTES, then the tomatoes and water.
12. Brought to a bare simmer and the stuffed tubes lowered in RAW -- not browned -- so the sauce comes TWO-THIRDS up them.
13. Simmered GENTLY, lid on, 40 MINUTES.
14. The lemon juice stirred in off the heat.
15. TESTED: every tube should be intact and the rice cooked through. Split tubes were overfilled.
16. Rested 10 MINUTES, the sticks removed, and served with bread.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Tunisia · All recipes