Grilled Squid Stuffed with Lemon Grass and Ginger

I had a dish similar to this when I went home to the Philippines in July. It was fro a very famous resto in Bacolod, the place where I am from. They stuffed their squid with tanglad (lemon grass) and ginger then it was grilled. If I remember correctly, they basted it with annatto-infused oil, which is commonly used in pork and chicken barbeque. This dish can either be grilled on a gas grill or stovetop grill. I used the later since I was not about to step outside in the heat and deal with more heat...lol...at least if I do it inside the house, I can just turn on the exhaust and have to air-conditioner running to counteract the heat coming from the stove :)Be careful when using a stovetop griller as it could oil from the basting medium to splatter. The lemmon grass gives the dish a nice aroma and flavor. You can eat this "as is" or you can dip it in soy sauce-kalamansi (philippine lemon) mixture or spiced vinegar. I do not like dipping it in anything but I like to eat with rice and a side of Atchara (Pickled papaya)...yum!



Ingredients:

squid, cleaned with tentacles removed and discarded (or you can save it for another dish)
Lemon grass (enough to stuff all your squids, bruised
Ginger (use enough to stuff squid), sliced thinly
sea salt and freschly ground pepper, to taste
bamoo skewers, soaked in water for about 15 minutes

Basting medium:

1/2 cup oil
1-2 tsp annatto extract (or if using powder, use about 1 tsp)

1. Heat sauce pan to medium and add oil with annatto extract.
2. Mix well. Heat until annatto is well incorporated into the oil.
3. Take one squid and stuff with lemon grass and ginger. Do this until all squid has been stuffed.
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the squids.
5. Skewer squid using bamboo skewers.
6. Turn on the grill and grill squids. After 3-4 minutes, turn squid over and baste with prepared basting medium.
7. When the other side is half way cooked, turn it over and baste that side also.
8. Continue to grill squids until cooked.
9. Remove from heat and transfer to serving platter.
NOTE: You are only supposed to eat the squid and discard the lemon grass and ginger