Yam Pla Muk Yang (Grilled Squid Salad)

As far as salads go, this one was pretty epic and has been voted in our house as ‘the best Thai dish so far’. The squid was lightly charred, smoky and soft (no rubber bands here) and the salad was crunchy, zingy with lime juice, salty from the fish sauce and had a cleansing heat from the red chilli and fresh herbs. Is it weird to be in love with one of your own recipes? It may still be winter and pretty cold but with this salad, a roaring fire and an ice cold Singha beer, you could 'almost’ be sat by the beach on a Thai island :)

For two people use:

• roughly 500g of baby squid (I used a frozen box of Fiesta del Mar brand, thawed)
• a few leaves of iceberg lettuce (enough to cover your plate)
• 3 or 4 small shallots, peeled and sliced fine
• 3 tomatoes, de-seeded and cut into wedges
• 1 stalk of celery, cut into thin slices
• a small handful of mint leaves, loosely torn
• a handful of coriander leaves, loosely torn
• 2 small red chillies, chopped
• a big splash of fish sauce
• juice of 1 lime
• vegetable oil

Prepare all the vegetables and herbs and arrange them on a serving plate/platter. Make the dressing; stir together the lime juice, fish sauce and chilli and leave until the end.
Prepare the squid- Pull out the head from the body, Cut off the tentacles above the eyes, discard the rest of the head. Peel off and discard the two fins/flaps on the side of the body. Peel off and throw away any speckled skin on the body; you’ll be left with a white body. Slide a sharp knife inside the body, and cut down one side then open out. Scrape and throw any remaining goo inside the squid and the long plastic-like quill. There’s probably lots of youtube videos for visuals but use your knife to lightly score diagonal hatchings on the inside of the squid- don’t cut all the way through. Then cut the scored squid into inch square pieces.
Heat a small frying pan until it’s very hot then add a very small amount of vegetable oil. When the pan starts to smoke, working in batches,

add in a few pieces of squid at a time (it’ll curl up, let it get a little charring but remove when the squid is no longer translucent (about 30 seconds). If it needs it add a drop more oil to the pan. Watch when doing the tentacles- they tend to spit when being pan fried.
When all the squid’s done, drop over the salad and pour the dressing over everything before serving.

Pad Bai Horapha Pla Muk Nor Mai (Squid and Bamboo Shoots stir fried with Sweet Basil)

Well, this is the last recipe from my North Yorkshire kitchen. Moving back to Lancashire in a few days so there may be a short break in service!!

Not the prettiest of photos today, sorry about that! I was hungry!! I’ve done a stir fry with Thai sweet basil before and this is more or less the same, the main ingredient is now squid and I’ve added fresh bamboo shoots. Like pad grapao gai, it works really well served with a crispy fried egg!

This is perfect Thai sea side food and the cooking part only takes a few minutes so perfect for a really quick supper :)


For two people use:

• 1 big squid tube, cleaned, trimmed, scored in a grid pattern and cut into small squares


• 1 fresh bamboo shoot/ a small tin of bamboo shoots 


• 4 cloves garlic


• 3 red Thai chillies (more or less if you like)


• a big handful of Thai sweet basil (use tarragon as a substitute, not Mediterranean basil!)


• a big splash of light soy sauce


• a big splash of oyster sauce


• a pinch of sugar


• vegetable oil for frying

If you have managed to track down fresh bamboo shoot from an Asian grocery, start here first, if not- skip on a bit. Peel off the tough outer leaves until you reach the yellowy core, trim off both ends and then use a knife to cut the whole thing in half and into strips. Now this is the important bit- raw bamboo shoot is toxic- boil the bamboo shoots for at least 30 minutes then drain and rinse them well under cold water.


Pound up the garlic and chillies in a pestle and mortar, you’ll be needing it in a moment. Heat a splash of vegetable oil in a wok, and when hot, throw in the garlic and chilli paste, just for a few seconds before adding in the squid. Stir fry it for a minute, no more, before adding in the bamboo shoots, sugar and the sauces, stir frying for another minute before turning off the heat and stirring in the sweet basil. Phew, done!

Pad Thai Talay (Seafood Fried Noodles)

I’ll say straight up, Pad Thai, despite being probably the second most famous Thai dish, sitting just after green/red curries, is one of my least favourite Thai meals, but it is one of my husband’s favourites. I’ve been cooking a lot of dishes with rice on the side recently so promised him a noodle dish for a change. I also had both squid and prawns in so a seafood Pad Thai it was. Saying that, I did still really enjoy it!

For 3 smaller portions/ 2 hungry portions use:

• Rice noodles (made to packet instructions- usually pre soaked then stir fried to finish ) or 3 sachets of ready to wok rice noodles (Amoy’s brand aren’t bad)


• seafood of your choice- I’ve used half a bag of raw king prawns and 100g baby squid, cleaned, trimmed, scored in a cross hatch pattern on both sides so it’ll curl up when fried then cut into inch square pieces


• a really big handful of bean sprouts


• 2 eggs, beaten in a cup


• a small handful of coriander, loosely ripped


• a small handful of peanuts, roughly broken in a pestle and mortar


• 3 spring onions, finely chopped


• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped


• a big splash fish sauce (nam pla- available in all supermarkets)


• a big pinch of sugar


• juice of 1 lime, plus another sliced in half for squeezing over


• a few chillies, chopped for sprinkling over


• a big splash of vegetable oil for frying

Heat the oil up in a wok until it’s really hot and throw in the garlic for just a few seconds before adding the seafood, keep stirring and fry for 2 minutes until the prawns are pink nearly all over. Shove this off to one side of the wok and pour the beaten eggs into the empty side. Let them sit for a few seconds, then scramble, leave and scramble, repeat until the eggs are fully cooked then stir everything back together. Throw in the spring onions and bean sprouts, stir frying for another minute before putting in the drained noodles (or sachet noodles if using ready to wok). Stir fry for 1 minute, leave them to sit for a minute if you like a bit of char on your noodles. Next add in the fish sauce, sugar and lime juice, stir and have a taste to see if it needs any more.

Turn the Pad Thai out onto a plate and top with the crushed peanuts, coriander, chopped chillies and squeeze over half a lime.