Fried Garlic and Coriander Squid, and Pork Rib and Bamboo Shoot Red Curry

A Thai dinner on Saturday, with two recipes from Thai Food. Kerri was at work so I spent a bit of time preparing this but when it was time to cook there was still a load more to be done.

The first was squid, which I bought from the fish stall at a local market – first time buying something there. It did mean that I needed to clean the squid when I got home though; luckily I had step by step instructions in a good cookbook. That done, the recipe was fairly simple… cut up the squid (I did it into strips) and marinate it in fish sauce (or light soy) for half an hour. While it is marinating, bash up a bulb and a half of garlic (yes it’s a lot…!) with some white pepper and coriander. Then coat the squid in it. Then deep fry. The squid was delicious, as were the deep fried peppery-garlicky-coriandery bits that ended up going really crispy.

After this came a red curry of pork ribs and bamboo shoots. This was okay but not as great as the squid. The bamboo shoots (which look disturbingly like giant slices of garlic in the picture) made the dish very bitter, which we should have expected as the recipe did mention it. The ribs had taken on quite a lot of flavour and were good to gnaw on.