Muc Sot Thai (Steamed Squid with Thai Style Sauce)
Vietnamese dishesSteamed DishesNationwide15 to 20 minutes to prepare, 8 to 10 minutes to cook
Squid with Thai style sauce is liked for the sour, spicy, salty, sweet hit that lands straight on the palate. The squid is springy, the mango sharp, the sawtooth herb fragrant. Timing the steamer is the hard part, since overcooked squid shrinks and turns rubbery.
The squid steams for exactly 5 minutes with a few slices of ginger, then cools before it is cut into strips. The sauce cooks over medium low heat until it simmers and coats, then 1 to 2 minutes more to thicken before the heat goes off.
This batch weighs about 839g, at roughly 70 calories per 100g.
Method
Clean the squid: remove the ink sac, eyes, beak, and quill, then wash it well. Score the body on the diagonal a few times so it cooks evenly.
Peel the mango and cut it into small cubes. Peel and slice the ginger. Squeeze the calamansi for juice. Blend the chili and garlic to a paste. Cut the sawtooth herb into fine strips.
Fill a pot a third full of water, set a steaming tray on top, lay in the squid, and scatter the ginger slices over it. Once the water boils, cover and steam 5 minutes until the squid is just done. Lift it out, let it cool, then cut it into bite sized strips.
Mix the sauce: put 4 teaspoons of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 3 teaspoons of fish sauce, 3 teaspoons of calamansi juice, 3 teaspoons of water, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of chili sauce, 1 teaspoon of Korean chili powder, and 1 teaspoon of the chili and garlic paste in a bowl. Stir until dissolved.
Set a pan on the stove, pour in the sauce, and cook it over medium low heat, stirring. Once it simmers and coats the spoon, lower the heat and cook 1 to 2 minutes more to thicken, then turn off the heat.
Put the squid strips, mango, and sawtooth herb in a large bowl, pour the sauce over slowly, toss gently to coat, and serve at once.
Tips
Good squid has a straight, firm body, skin that is white and faintly pink, clear eyes, and tentacles held tight to the body.
Five minutes is the limit, since longer steaming shrinks the squid and turns it rubbery.
Choose a firm, half ripe mango, since a soft ripe one falls apart in the sauce.
Let the squid cool completely before cutting it into strips, since cutting it hot breaks up the pieces.
Toss the sauce through just before eating, since standing draws water out of the mango and thins the dish.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.