These baby squids are absolutely delicious and super tender. The secret to a very soft squid is in cooking time. Make sure to cook it no more than 3 minutes and you’re in for this sumptuous recipe. Happy cooking and enjoy!

Baby Squid in Olive Oil
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 kilo Baby Squid
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- Lemon juice or Calamansi juice from 4-5 fruits
- 1 tsp. chopped ginger
- Olive oil
- Bay leaf/laurel
- 2 tbsp Soy sauce
- Ground black pepper
- 1 tsp Paprika/Chili Powder
- Salt
- 2 tbsp toasted garlic, garnish
- 1-2 red chili peppers (siling labuyo)
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Clean the squid by removing the “plastic” portion and the ink sac. Just set aside the squid ink for your adobong pusit recipe.
- Wash the squid thoroughly and let it drain well. Dry it up (necessary) to prevent being watery when you cooked it. Sun drying or dry it up with paper towels..make sure to remove excess water.. para hindi mag tubig.
- Over a low-heated pan, add the olive oil then saute the garlic and ginger.
- Add squid and laurel (bay leaf) then stir fry for about two minutes making sure it’s evenly cooked.
- Add more olive oil if necessary.
- Season with salt, soy sauce, black pepper, and paprika/chili powder.
- Add calamansi juice one teaspoon at a time, and adjust to your taste.
- Add more olive oil. Do not cook more than 3 minutes. Cooking squid for more than 3 minutes will make it hard as rubber. So make sure you time it to maximum 3 minutes cooking from the time you add your squid.
- Garnish with fried garlic and and red chili peppers.
- If baby squid is not available, you can use regular sized squid cut into rings. Just adjust the proportion of the ingredients.
Cooking Tips: You can also adapt this recipe when making the Adobong Pusit recipe by adding lots of olive at the final stage of the cooking.