As an accompaniment to my weekend malt and barley juice binge, I wanted to chew on something fresh and spicy. I'm tired of nibbling on pretzels, chicken wings of various flavours, and even pizza or onion rings.
In the back of my mind I was thinking kinilaw-- a raw seafood salad of either fish or shrimp, the freshest of which I could always have on demand back home, in the sun or in the shade. Having been transplanted in the middle of praireland of a steak-gobbling province, it is almost impossible to whip up this beer essential tropical delight.
Just to satisfy my pangs for the piquant, sour and salty to go with my Budweiser, I dug into the fridge and was able to salvage a small pack of frozen(yup, frozen)squid. I know. I know. Please don't say yuck. Thaw them I did as I sliced some key limes and onions, grated some ginger, sliced a wee bunch of cilantro, crushed some garlic and mixed them up with a little blessing of sea salt and freshly crushed black pepper.Too bad, no bird eye red or green bird eye chilis were in sight.That could have been heaven. In a corner of the deep freeze were a flattened bunch of frozen (yeah, frozen) kaffir lime leaves in a vacuumed pack. I got a leaf and sliced it thinly to add a Bangkok aspect to my prep. Dunno why. Thailand is always on my mind. For sure it's not Pat Pong.Allow me a wink. I'm certain it's the food, okay, and family and friends.
After the squid have softened up in the thaw, they were rid of their skins, sliced thinly and quickly blanched--or they'll be chewing gum-- in salted boiling water and mixed with the fruit, spice and herb mixture. After about an hour in the fridge, the squid salad was ready to rock with the booze.
Cheers.
