There is no Asian market where I’m living now. So it’s kind of hard for me to cook all the Vietnamese dishes that I love . Sometimes, we drove down to Denver, which is 2.5 – hour driving away from here to go shopping at Asian markets. Each time, we bought like the whole market back home. My favorite would be the seafood including squid, catfish, shrimp etc. I usually buy some herbs that we cannot grab them in an US market such as rau răm (rau ram) or Laksa leaf, tía tô (tia to) etc. And of course, after all of that, time for me to schedule the menu so that we could eat all out of those herbs before they become spoilt. So Gỏi mực – Squid salad with cucumber is our first choice to use up Rau ram.
Gỏi mực – Squid Salad with cucumber
This dish is very fresh with a lot of flavors: sweet, tangy, salty and spicy; and the texture of the squid is very fresh and crunchy. You can eat a whole dish alone or with rice or even sticky rice. Yummy! The good thing is that this dish is easy to make and you can plan to make it ahead of time so it’s also good for a party. Let’s our cooking get started!
1. Ingredients:
- 1 big cucumber (or 2 small cucumbers)
- 1 big raw squid
- 2 Tablespoons of minced garlic
- Water mixture to blanch the squid:
- 3 cups water
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Fish sauce mixture to mix:
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 Tablespoon good quality of fish sauce
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar (or if you prefer you can use lime juice)
- 1 red fresh chilli (less or more to your taste)
- 2 Tablespoon fresh minced rau răm (Laksa leaf) (You can substitute with cilantro or basil)
2. Instructions:
- Wash the cucumber then scoop out the inside part of the cucumber, which will make the salad watery later. Slide it very thin and toss with 1 ½ teaspoon sugar. Set aside.
Prepare the cucumber
- Clean the squid and cut to the bite size. Score the inside side of the squid to make the final look beautiful. Please see the picture for detail.
Clean and cut the squid
- Bring the water mixture to boil . Put the squid in and bring the water to boil again then turn off the heat. Let’s the squid sit in the hot water for about 1 min. Don’t overcook the squid or it will become tough. Take the squid out and put them into a bowl with iced water to stop cooking. Take them out after a few minute and set aside.
Boiling the squid
- Fry the minced garlic with 2-3 Tablespoon of oil or until the garlic become golden brown.
Fry the minced garlic
- Prepare the fish sauce mixture to toss and set aside. Have everything ready but don’t mix them too soon. Just do it before you serve for about 15 minutes.
Prepare all the ingredients before tossing and finishing the dish
- How to mix the salad: First, toss the squid with the fish sauce mixture until the squid absorbs very well. Then put cucumber and mix well. Finally, put the rau răm (or laksa leaf) and taste again. Pour the salad to the plate then sprinkle with fried minced garlic.
How to toss Goi muc – Squid salad
Here you have it – Gỏi mực or Squid salad. I really like the combination of this dish. It seems like every flavor is put into the same plate. If you have it in summer, I’m sure that you can feel a freshness of all ingredients. If you have it in winter, maybe the spiciness would make you warm up a little bit.
Yummy Goi Muc – Squid Salad
This dish reminds me of some Thai dishes because Thai cuisine also have some kind of squid salad like this. However, I think the flavor in Vietnamese Goi Muc is lighter. Please try and let me know if you have any question. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 big cucumber (or 2 small cucumbers)
- 1 big squid
- 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
- Water mixture to blanch the squid:
- 3 cups water
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Fish sauce mixture to mix:
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 Tablespoon good quality of fish sauce
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar (or if you prefer you can use lime juice)
- 1 red fresh chilli (less or more to your taste)
- 2 Tablespoon fresh minced rau răm (Laksa leaf) (You can substitute with cilantro)
Instructions
- Wash the cucumber then scoop out the inside part of the cucumber, which will make the salad watery later. Slide it very thin and toss with 1 ½ teaspoon sugar. Set aside.
- Clean the squid and cut to the bite size. Score the inside side of the squid to make the final look beautiful. Please see the picture for detail.
- Bring the water mixture to boil . Put the squid in and bring the water to boil again then turn off the heat. Let’s the squid sit in the hot water for about 1 min. Don’t overcook the squid or it will become tough. Take the squid out and put them into a bowl with iced water to stop cooking. Take them out after a few minute and set aside.
- Fry the minced garlic with 2-3 Tablespoon of oil or until the garlic become golden brown.
- Prepare the fish sauce mixture to toss and set aside. Have everything ready but don’t mix them too soon. Just do it before you serve for about 15 minutes.
- How to mix the salad: First, toss the squid with the fish sauce mixture until the squid absorbs very well. Then put cucumber and mix well. Finally, put the rau răm (or laksa leaf) and taste again. Pour the salad to the plate then sprinkle with fried minced garlic.
Freshy Goi Muc – Squid Salad