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Charcoal-grilled Squid Skewers

I ate these satays at a night market, the evening after I’d been out fishing with squid boats. The fishermen go out at dusk and hook the squid with a cluster of hooks on a line called a jig, which they jerk up and down in the water. Essential for jigging success is a bright light, which attracts the squid to the surface.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Squid and ginger work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 22 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep1 hr
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: peanut, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Toast the coriander seeds and dried red chilli in a dry pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes until fragrant. Crumble the chilli, then grind with the cumin to a fine powder.

  2. Pull the tentacles away from the squid bodies and set them aside. Slice each body open into a flat sheet, rinse, pat dry, and score the inside lightly in a crosshatch.

  3. In a bowl, whisk the ground spices with the vegetable oil, fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar (or golden caster sugar) until the sugar dissolves. Toss in the squid, cover, and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

  4. For the dressing, pound the garlic, ginger, bird's-eye chilli and palm sugar together to a paste. Stir in the lime juice and fish sauce, then set aside.

  5. Coarsely crush the roasted peanuts and chop the fresh coriander.

  6. Soak wooden skewers in a pan of water for 30 minutes so they do not burn.

  7. Heat a charcoal grill until the coals are glowing and mostly covered in white ash, about medium-high heat.

  8. Thread the marinated squid bodies and tentacles onto the skewers, weaving them so the pieces lie flat.

  9. Grill the skewers for 1 to 2 minutes per side until the squid turns opaque and flakes, reaching 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part.

  10. Arrange the skewers on a plate, spoon over the dressing, and scatter with the crushed peanuts and chopped coriander.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Squid + gingertop 10% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together22 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Coriander + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Cumin + coriandertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cumin + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,216 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Coriander + gingertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,504 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (squid, cumin, coriander, fish sauce, lime, sugar, ginger):

  1. Turmericbetter flavor fit
  2. Mintbetter flavor fit
  3. Cardamombetter flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against squid, cumin, coriander, fish sauce, lime, sugar, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).