Moroccan stuffed squids with rice and Chermoula

25/03/20224passionfood

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Serves: Serves 4

Today I share with you a dish that I particularly love, “Moroccan Stuffed squids with rice” with its spicy tomato sauce. A recipe full of Moroccan flavours.

I had already shared a “stuffed squids with quinoa and shrimp”. But today is the one that mom made for us, it’s really delicious. The squid is tender, the stuffing is just sublime and perfectly flavoured with the Chermoula, I’m not even talking about the spicy tomato sauce. You can use the tomato sauce to cook prawns with chermoula (at home we call it pil pil, nothing to do with the “Prawns Spanish tapas” cooked in olive oil with garlic and chilli). Or use it to cook in the fish cakes seasoned with chermoula with lemon and kalamata olives (likein this picture).

Stuffed squid is a dish that is very easy to make, especially if you have asked your fishmonger to clean the squid for you. As for the stuffing, it can be declined in so many ways. You can just have rice with vegetables and chermoula. As you can substitute rice with quinoa or use rice vermicelli. Also use shrimp instead of tentacles.

Like in Morocco, serve this dish with a good homemade bread and a green salad. It may be a new way for you to prepare squid. Leave your comments to let me know what do you think.

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Moroccan stuffed squids with rice and Chermoula

25/03/2022 4passionfood

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

Serves: Serves 4

Ingredients :

For the tomato sauce :

400 g tomatoes , 1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp smoked paprika , (Optional)
2 tsp paprika
1 clove of garlic , finely chopped
1 bay leave
1 Tbsp tomato paste
salt and black pepper

For the stuffing :

6 squids (20cm), clean and tentacles cut into small pieces
250 g short grain rice , I used an Egyptian rice perfect for the filling
100 g green peas, frozen
2 Tbsp pitted green olives , roughly chopped
2 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes , (Oil packed )roughly chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic , finely grated
1 Tbsp Parsley , finely chopped
1 Tbsp coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
2 tsp harissa, (Optional - depending on if you like spicy food)
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
Salt and black pepper

Method :

1)
First make the tomato sauce. Heat the olive oil in a very large frying pan for which you have a lid and then add the tomatoes, the garlic, the bay leave, the tomato paste, the spices, salt and some black pepper. You can also add some chilli flack or fresh chilli finely chopped if you want to have a spicy tomato sauce.

Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until quite thick, taste to adjust the seasoning and set aside.

meanwhile let’s make the filling.
2)
First let me show you the Egyptian rice looks like, and it’s perfect for stuffing veggies and squids.

Meanwhile the sauce is cooking, make the stuffing.

Place the rice in a saucepan with lightly salted boiling water, and cook for 5 minutes stir so the grains don’t stick together. Drain, refresh under cold water and set aside in a colander. The rice at this stage should stay firm.

in a bowl, put the pre-cooked rice, the frozen green peas (washed), the green lives and the sundried tomatoes roughly chopped, the tentacles cut into a small pieces (or shrimp if not made without), the fresh herbs as well as the spices, the harissa, salt and black pepper (check the seasoning).

Fill the calamari 2/3 full using your fingers or a teaspoon. Close with a toothpick. It’s important to not overfill your calamari otherwise they will explode. (the rice will finish cooking and will double in volume). Prick the calamari with a toothpick before putting them in the tomato sauce.
3)
Add 200 ml of boiling water to your tomato sauce, bring to the boil, before sliding in the stuffed squid (don’t forget to prick them all over with a toothpick). check the salt.

Cover and cook over very low heat for 45 minutes, turning the squids halfway through cooking. Remove the lid and let the sauce thicken, stirring gently so that the squids don’t stick to the bottom of the casserole.
4)
Serve this dish with lemon wedges, and good bread and a green salad.

Enjoy !!