Goan Stuffed Squid with Tiger Prawn

No preamble here, just the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 med-large squids, approx. 500g each
• 14 tiger prawns, shelled and deveined
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• Rapeseed oil
• A good quantity of Goan recheado masala (recipe below)

Instructions:

• Clean the squid thoroughly, keeping tubes whole, removing tentacles and wings
• Chop tentacles and wings into small cubes
• Shell and devein tiger prawns, chop into small cubes
• In a non-stick pan, add a tablespoon of rapeseed oil and fry the chopped onion till soft
• Now add 2 heaped tablepoons of recheado masala and fry for a minute 
• Add the chopped squid, cook for about 2 minutes on high flame and add the tiger prawn, cooking for a further minute. Turn off heat and leave in pan till cool enough to handle
• Snip off or stab the end of the squid tubes to make a tiny hole for air to release
• Stuff the squid tube with the mix and then, using the same pan, add another tablespoon of rapeseed oil and cook the tubes, turning every so often till they get some colour: you can use toothpicks to secure the larger end of the tube so less of the filling comes out, but I don’t bother; turns out, as it all ends up heaped on the same plate, those bits just get more crispy
• Once the tubes start to colour, add 2 more tbsp. recheado masala along with a good splash of water and cook on a medium to high flame until the masala caramelises sufficiently to coat the squid
• Serve, sliced, with anything left in the pan on top

Goan Recheado Masala

This keeps well in the fridge, should be good for a month.

Ingredients:

• 100g whole dry stemless Kashmiri chillies
• 200ml white wine vinegar
• 8 cloves
• 3 whole cardamom pods
• 2 x cinnamon sticks, broken up
• 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 1 tsp crushed black peppercorns
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 tbsp. rapeseed oil
• 5 tbsp. palm sugar
• whole head garlic, peeled and roughly chopped 
• 1 inch ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

Instructions:

• Place the chillies in a bowl with the vinegar and dry spices: the cloves, cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds and black pepper. Give it all a toss and leave for 3-5hrs, mixing every so often
• Rapeseed oil in a non-stick pan and add the onion slices. Cook at a high heat so the onions take quick colour but do not burn. Turn the heat off and leave to cool
• In a small blender, add the onions along with the chilli mixture and grind everything into a paste
• Taste the paste (Kashmiri chillies are mild so go ahead) and adjust if need be; it should be tangy, sweet and tart