Indonesian dishes are never easy. Like Indian dishes, there are numerous ingredients and they often take a long time to prepare. Here is a simplified and modified version of Indonesian cumi cumi. I was just experimenting and surprisingly, it turned out well.

I’ve got 3 large cuttlefish here. Stripped, cut, washed and drained.

Next, I fry the ingredients. I have lemongrass, ginger, garlic, shallots. Fry till golden brown.

In goes the cuttlefish. I added 2 teaspoons of salt and almost a tablespoon of white pepper. I know I’m supposed to use unground pepper, but what the heck, I’m a busy man.

Anybody who has cooked cuttlefish will know that this creature expresses a lot of liquid as it cooks. Keep simmering to reduce the liquid, then add dark soya sauce, about 3 teaspoons of sugar and cook until the liquid thickens.

And here is the final result. I think it would look nicer with some lettuce by the side. With all its strong flavours, I guess eating it with lettuce wouldn’t do any harm either.

© Chan Joon Yee