Blanched squid with ginger

Method

1. Pull the head and quill from the squid, peel off the purple skin and rinse the tube; score the inside in a fine diamond without cutting through, so it curls into a flower when cooked. Cut into 4 cm pieces and keep the tentacles.
2. For the ginger dip, put the grated ginger, chopped spring onion and half a teaspoon of salt in a heatproof bowl, pour the smoking oil over, stir, and add a few drops of soy.
3. Bring one and a half litres of water to a rolling boil with the ginger slices, spring onion lengths, wine and salt.
4. Drop the squid in and count twenty to thirty seconds, until every piece has curled and turned opaque white; any longer and it toughens.
5. Drain at once (a dip in iced water keeps it snappy) and serve with the ginger dip.

Take care

• Contains mollusc, a mandatory-declaration allergen in Australia. The squid is cooked the moment it turns opaque white; thirty seconds is enough. The soy in the dip contains soy and wheat.

The story

The fast version of the squid dish, the one Hong Kong families cook when the fish stall had fresh squid and there is no time to fry: the same blanching idea as the prawns, with the ginger dip borrowed from the poached chicken. It is thin in the Hong Kong recipe literature precisely because nobody thinks of it as a recipe; it is the technique cooks describe on the way to something else.

Same technique

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Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.