Grilled Octopus with Green Harissa
Ingredients
Master stock
- 3 cups shao hsing wine
- 2 cups dark soy
- 1 cup light soy
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 12 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 cup sliced ginger
- 10 star anise
- 8 spring onions/scallions, cut in half crossways
- 4 cinnamon quills
- 7 strips of orange zest (you could use mandarin as well)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Braising the octopus
- 1, 2-3 kg octopus
- Large pan of boiling water
- Master stock on to boil
- Ice water
- Tin foil
Green harrisa paste
- 150g deseeded jalapenos
- 100g coriander leaves
- 80g parsley leaves
- 2 garlic cloves peeled
- 30g spring onions chopped
- 2 tsp cumin seeds toasted
- 1 tbsp. ground cumin
- 1 juice and zest of a lemon
- 100ml olive oil
- 100ml grapeseed oil
- Food processor / pestle and mortar
Cooking instructions
Master stock:
- Put all the ingredients in to a stockpot along with 6 liters of water.
- Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and let it simmer for 40 mins.
Braising the octopus:
- You will see some sinew parts underneath the tentacles on the octopus. With a sharp knife, cut this off and discard.
- Dip the octopus in the boiling water for 5 seconds, then take out and place into ice water. Repeat this two times. We do this to firm up the outer skin so that it doesn't fall off during cooking and you don't lose all the texture of the tentacles.
- Place the octopus in the master stock and cover with tin foil, making sure the tentacles are submerged in the stock. Leave on a gentle simmer 2 hours.
- Check with a knife after this time. The meat should feel firm but also the knife should glide through with ease.
- Allow to cool in the stock.
Green Harissa paste:
- Either place everything in a food processor and blitz until smooth or finely chop everything by hand and mix together. After, season with salt to taste.
To assemble:
- You can re-heat the octopus a number of ways. Either warm back up in the master stock, place into a hot heavy based frying pan, add oil and butter and fry until golden brown or, our personal favorite, season with salt and rub some of the harissa dressing over the tentacles and chargrill over hot embers until ends are brown and crispy and golden brown all over.
- Slice into 1cm pieces and place a heap of harissa dressing on the side.