Vietnamese Grilled Squid Salad- Gỏi Mực Nướng
This is such a beautiful salad recipe that is perfect as a starter for a summer lunch, it comes together quite quickly and is served with puffed black sesame rice crackers and enjoyed together. For the squid, you can buy prepared squid tubes if you’re not wanting to have to prep a whole squid, but I prefer buying a whole one and prepping it myself as I love the different textures of the meat from the tube to the tentacles in the salad. The key is to have your Weber grill as hot as possible, you want high heat to cook the squid hot and fast so it gets charry but still remains tender.
Serves- 2 as a main, 4 as a starter
Ingredients- 10
Cooking Time- 30 minutes, plus 30 minutes for cleaning/prepping the squid
Skill Level- Easy
Ingredients
Squid
- 1 squid, cleaned, scored and cut into bite sized pieces. Alternatively, you can buy squid tubes already cleaned for convenience but I like buying a whole squid so you get a mix of the body and tentacles within the salad.
- 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
- ½ tablespoon of sugar
- 1 stalk of lemongrass, finely blitzed in a food processor
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon of chilli oil, Chilli Oil on Everything
Salad
- 1 green mango, peeled and julienned
- 1 carrot, julienned
- 1 bunch of your choice of herbs, roughly chopped:
- coriander
- Vietnamese mint
- mint
- 1 fresh long red chilli, finely sliced
- 1 tablespoon of peanuts, roasted and crushed
- 1 black sesame rice paper sheet
Dressing
- ½ red onion, finely sliced
- 1 disc (tablespoon worth) of palm sugar (reference below)
- 1 tablespoon of fish sauce (Three crabs is the preference below)
- Juice of 1 lime
Alternatively you can also use 2 tablespoons of Nước chấm (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce) as the dressing if you have this on hand. The recipe is also in my highlights on my Instagram.
Method
- Marinate your squid by combining all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl, season to taste and mix through the squid pieces. Allow to marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes or overnight covered in the fridge.
- Finely peel and julienne the green mango and carrot.
- Wash and roughly chop your herbs: coriander, mint and Vietnamese mint.
- Finely slice your chilli.
- Roast your peanuts in a pan on medium till golden. Remove from the pan, place into a mortar and pestle or into a snap lock bag and crush.
- Make your dressing by placing the palm sugar and a tablespoon of water into a bowl in the microwave for 10 seconds or until melted. Add in the fish sauce and lime juice until you get a balance of sweet, salty and sour. Add the red onion in to soak up the dressing.
- Preheat your Weber for 10 minutes until searing hot, approx 250 degrees celsius.
- Grill squid on the grill plate for 2 minutes each side until the ends curl up, the skin has some nice char to it and the flesh has turned fully opaque.
- Remove from the grill and allow to rest for a few minutes whilst you assemble the salad.
- Assemble your salad by tossing the mango, carrot, half of the chilli and herbs in the dressing. Add the squid and toss to combine.
- Arrange onto a platter and garnish with the crushed peanuts, remaining red chilli and a few herbs.
- Microwave the rice paper sheet for 1 minute or until fully puffed and golden. Snap into smaller shards and arrange beside the salad on a platter.
- Serve immediately. To eat the salad, place some of the salad onto the rice paper cracker and enjoy in one bite.
Watch the Process