Kelantan Traditional Snack: Squid stuffed with glutinous rice

you can see that the glutinous rice is nicely cooked inside the squid

This popular snack during tea-time. the squid is stuffed with glutinous rice and bathed in an aromatic coconut milk gravy. The stuffing is basically soaked in coconut milk before it is stuffed into the squids.

this is my dad's favorite dish. it is sweet with a hint of savory taste. store bought stuffed squid is never as good as homemade, its always too sweet and you usually can't really appreciate the flavors.

anyway i made this today since yesterday's pasar tani (market) only have cute petite squid. my mom once told me that to make this dish the best squid is the young squid or the smaller squid rather than the large one. this is probably because if you were to use large squid you may risk the flesh of the squid being tough as the process of cooking this is rather long (coz you need to make sure that the glutinous rice is cooked inside the squid) besides smaller portion is somehow fun to eat.

what you need:

1 can/pack coconut milk
12 small squids (you can make more)
100g glutinous rice (you may add more if needed)
1.2 cm ginger
1 screwpine leaf (daun pandan) - [optional but with this it'll be more fragrant]
2 shallot
100g palm sugar/brown sugar
a pinch of salt
toothpicks to secure the squid.

This is how you make it:

1. wash glutinous rice and soak it in the coconut milk for a minimum of 30minutes (the longer the better) then toss it and keep the coconut milk aside for later use.
   
2. mean while wash and clean squids. discard all dark ink and its bone. Do not remove the skin.
3. stuff the glutinous rice 1/3 full in the squid and attach back their heads and secure it with a toothpick. this is to allow the glutinous rice to expand and cook in the squid.
4. heat the coconut milk and add in ginger, shallots and screwpine.
   
5. then add in the stuffed squids cook until the stuffing is thoroughly cooked. to know when the glutinous rice is cooked, the squid will look expend and when you touch it, it should feel soft yet firm due to the expended cooked glutinous rice and the texture of the squid.
6. once cooked take out the squids and set a side.
7. then add in palm sugar and salt into the coconut milk stir constantly so that the coconut milk won't break and become oily. do this at a medium to low heat.
8. the gravy should be thicken after awhile. have a taste making sure that it is sweet with a hint of saltiness. then remove from heat and add in the cooked squids and let it sit for several minutes, then ready to serve.

TIPS:

• you can adjust the thickness of the gravy to your liking by adding water.when you do this make sure you check back your taste (sugar and salt)
• use fresh coconut milk is always better than using packed/instant coconut milk.
• palm sugar is the original ingredient but you can substitute with brown sugar or white sugar. but using white sugar will loose its beautiful brown color on the gravy. so perhaps you can try and caramelized the sugar first just to get the color although this may render the original taste slightly.

any questions you may ask me and i'll be gladly answer your questions.