Kitchen Experiment #2: Grilled Stuffed Squid

Hubby and I miss eating seafood so much. It was like months ago since the last time we bought fish or shrimp or crabs. So last Sunday, I headed to Kraz Supermarket after work to buy some fresh goodness prawns, squid, 1 big lapu-lapu and 3 big tilapias.

That night I have prepared Tempura shrimp for dinner. It was also a kitchen experiment but I chose not to post about it coz I wasn’t able to take pictures of the output. Besides, it was a bit of a disaster for me. I should have opted for buttered shrimps instead.

I have sworn to myself that next time, I should be more prepared with the recipe on my mind.

So yesterday, I was trying to remember that grilled stuffed squid we ate in a company party in Mimosa. All I could remember is that there is bell pepper and cheese in the stuffing. I’ve asked a former colleague about the recipe but she did not reply. Then I searched the recipe online but I can’t find the same stuffing that I like.

In the end, I just decided to stick with what I can remember.

What it’s made of:

10 pieces squid, 4-5 inches long

1 big tomato (depends on your liking)***

1 medium size yellow bell pepper***

1 medium size green bell pepper***

1 onion***

Cheddar cheese in small cubes

Soy sauce

Lemon or calamansi

Salt and pepper

Chillies

Toothpicks

Aluminum foil

***Note: tomatoes, onions and bell peppers here in the Middle East are bigger than the usual sizes in the Philippines. It’s up to you if you want to add the amount of veggies or other fillings you prefer.

How it is made:

1. Clean the squid first, remove innards if you like. It was actually my first time to clean a squid so I wasn’t sure what to remove or not. Hehehe.

2. In a big bowl, marinate the squid in soy sauce and lemon/calamansi juice for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

3. Mince the tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. Put them on a separate bowl and mix. Put salt and pepper.

4. Get one marinated squid and start putting the mixture inside. In my case, cheese first, then veggies, then cheese, then veggies. So as to spread the cheesiness while grilling.

5. Seal the stuffed squid with a toothpick in the opening.

6. Put the stuffed squid over a sheet of aluminum foil. Before covering it, put some of the veggie mixtures on the sides and pour a tablespoon of the marinade sauce. Cover squid and veggies in aluminum foil. Make sure that you have also cut out the pointed parts of the toothpicks so it won’t make holes in the foil.

7. Then grill it on a live coal (or a stove, just like me!) for 4-5 minutes on each side. Don’t overcook so the squid won’t have the rubberized feel.

8. For the sauce, put in a small bowl the soy sauce, lemon/calamansi juice and chillies.

We don't have live coals so i used the stove! 4-5 minutes for each side please!



Cooked already, this is how it looked like when I opened the foil.

My finish product: Grilled Squid Stuff plus some garnishing effects!


Serve it hot and creamy with this!

I grilled another batch for our lunch pack today!

yummylicious!

My Mom will be proud of her undomesticated daughter.

Kitchen Experiment #1: Broccoli with Mushroom & Chicken

since me and hubby came here in sharjah, we have assumed independence from our parents. not total independence though. hahaha!

what i'm really trying to say is, back home in pinas, we don't do the cooking. we both have an idea how some dishes are being cooked but we haven't actually tried doing it in the kitchen. why complicate things when we have the best cooks at home?

that was before.

now that our parents/sisters/brothers are not here to serve us good food when we get home, it's quite a responsibility for the un-skilled like us to come up with a yummylicious food to serve on our dinner or to pack for our lunch.

we now just rely on our "basic instincts". not the R18 movie of course.

*blush*

i'm not really thinking about that so let's skip that one. lol.

okay, moving on. me and hubby are being creative everytime. twisting some original recipes into what is just available here. for your info, the middle east is not as abundant as our pinas when it comes to the range of veggies available. even sayote (or chayote), in its super rarity in the supermarkets, costs 10 dirhams per kilo (1 dirham = 13 pesos). it's my favorite gulay pa naman. and i also miss the dahon ng malunggay!

anyways, today is Saturday and it's my off. since morning i've been thinking what to cook for dinner coz it feels nakakaumay if i cook fried chicken again or sauteed string beans. i remember that yesterday, hubby was eyeing that beef steak from our flatmate. it's a very rare occasion that hubby would crave for beef coz it's not really his most fave meat but i want to give him what i saw in his eyes yesterday.

we still have broccoli in the fridge so why not have Beef Broccoli for tonight. i went down to the supermarket right after i took a shower. i have gone into two supermarkets but no beef is available!!! i ended up buying oyster sauce, chicken and cauliflower, wondering what in hell will i do with the combination. i'm gonna reserve the cauliflower for tomorrow coz i'm still using the broccoli.

so here's my output for tonight:

Broccoli with Mushroom & Chicken

what it's made of:

1/2 kilo broccoli, sliced
1/4 kilo chicken breast, into small thin strips
2 cups chicken broth
2 gloves garlic, crushed & minced
sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
3 tablespoon soy sauce
salt & pepper for seasoning

how it's done:

1. first, bring to boil the chicken in 2 and half cups of water to come up with the chicken broth.
2. in a hot wok with cooking oil, cook the garlic until almost golden on its sides. then put the chicken and stir fry for about 10 seconds.
3. add the oyster sauce, soy sauce and mushrooms. stir fry again for 20-30 seconds or until the chicken has absorbed the flavors of the sauce.
4. put the broccoli and chicken broth. add salt and pepper to taste.
5. let it simmer for 5 minutes then serve it hot with rice!

Note: for a much creamier sauce, you can add a tablespoon of cornstarch. (i just forgot to buy one, hehehe)

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i also cooked some beef kebabs but i was so focused with the broccoli thingy that i forgot them for some minutes. it was a disappointment. really.

burnt beef kebabs

hubby liked the broccoli blah blah blah but when he saw the beef kebabs, he turned cynical with my cooking skills.


hubby: nagluluto ka ba talaga? bakit sunog? (were you really cooking? why are these burnt?)
yummybite: ahmmm...sorry, i forgot eh. [while making pacute na naman]
hubby: *sigh* buti na lang masarap ang broccoli. (good thing that the broccoli were good)



on my mind while we were eating: "sunog daw pero naka-dalawang servings ng rice?"

gaining something or nothing

yesterday, i have googled my food listings for calorie counts.

then, i came across this caloric needs calculator and the result for my current weight?

tada!

i need 1,125 kilocalories** a day to maintain my current weight of 90 pounds.

but! i also just discovered from this website how many calories i need to take for my dream "100-pound yummybite".

the requirement? 1,250 kilocalories, at least.

easy-peasy

after all the googling and finally making a food/calorie table. i printed it out and planned to post it on our closet door. i could have posted it on the door fridge but we don't have our own (common fridge with other flatmates), as a constant reminder sana while preparing our meals.

nevertheless, i just want to share how much calorie intake i had yesterday.

see that yellow highlight?

oh yes! i've had 1,434 kilocalories yesterday!

i've reached and surpassed my goal even without the desert and the bread i've eaten in betweens, with which i don't know how to compute the calorie contents.

*happiness*

*fingers crossed*

seriously! hah!

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and with the variety of filipino food, ingredients and other pampalasa, just how can i calculate the calorie count of adobo, sinigang or kare-kare?

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Note: on most food labels, kilocalorie = calorie.

source: http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories.htm