Vegan grilled squid (Yaki Ina)

Who’s ever watched Spirited Away and not walked away wanting to eat all the food!? Well, I couldn’t resist, I had to try making a vegan version feast! Problem is, there’s no recipes for most of the food in the film. Certainly not vegan either! This is part of a series of recipes I’m developing to make a vegan Spirited Away feast! Here’s my experience creating one of the recipes:

Juicy, tender, slightly chewy and slathered in lemon sauce, this grilled gluten-free dish is just delightful. Also, for those of you who are picky? I understand where you’re coming from. I never liked squid either before going vegan, but, just saying, I’d chow down these guys any day!

It took awhile to figure out the kinks of this recipe, but it was well worth it. Read on to learn the (scary) process behind the scenes! Or scroll down for the final recipe.

Funny story time: In the original Spirited Away feast, stuffed squid was what was served! But as much as it pains me to say it… I spectacularly FAILED at recreating a stuffed recipe in vegan form, three times in a ROW. (Botched attempts at stuffed squid included: stuffing oyster mushrooms, bell peppers, and portabella mushrooms three different ways with mochigome rice and marinade.) Sad day.

Of all the “squids” I tried, oyster mushroom in particular had the correct chewy texture, but every attempt to make it also flavorful .. was not great. And I had been carving the raw mushroom at the base with a paring knife, trying my best to hollow it out into a tube (so it’d look like a squid).. But the thickness of the tube varied when done that way and so it cooked unevenly too. The other problem was that the only way I was able to get a good flavor out of the oyster mushroom was by pressing and grilling; stuffing and baking just wasn’t working.

But THEN.. I found this recipe and boy, what a game changer! I love the technique of boiling the oyster mushroom to make it more pliable for spiral-cutting. You’re a genius, WoonHeng!

That said, because I was going for a “squid” recipe, I had to think about how to convert the dish to be less “chicken”-y and more “squid”-y by examining traditional recipes, and here’s my results! Vegan “squid” – YUMMY! It was a long road to get here but I’m glad I didn’t give up, because this recipe that came out of it is AWESOME!

Ingredients

Instructions

Clean mushrooms, removing dirt. Round off the caps by gently slicing with a sharp knife until you have a roughly cylindrical shape at the top side. Cut off the harder bottom portion of the stem. (see photo)

Set aside a bowl of ice water that will be ready for the mushrooms to stop them from cooking. In a pot, add enough water to cover mushrooms and bring it to a boil. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and the mushrooms, then simmer for 10 minutes, or until their skin looks shiny (see photo). Once they’re done, put the mushrooms in the ice water bowl. Keep the salty water in the pot on the stove to make the noodles later.

Grab a towel and squeeze the mushrooms to remove excess water.

To make the marinade, use a large bowl and whisk together mirin, vegetable oil, GF soy sauce, and miso paste.

Create a cutlet shape out of the mushroom (see photos): with a sharp knife, cut a line from the top down to the stem. Then turn the knife at an angle to open it up, like a spiral sliced apple. Aim for a 1/4″ thick cutlet and score both sides with X marks.

Place the mushroom cutlets to soak in the marinade for 15 minutes, making sure both sides received some.

Set the pot of salt water to boil again, and add the noodles. Cook according to package instructions.

For the ginger lemon sauce, in a small sauce pan combine water, lemon juice, maple syrup, sugar, ginger, vinegar rice, cornstarch, and lemon zest, whisking until smooth. Start heating the pan, stirring occasionally. Once it starts boiling, place the lemon slices in the sauce and keep stirring until large bubbles form and it’s thickened. Turn off the heat and set sauce aside.

Toss noodles with some of the ginger lemon sauce and a bit of GF soy sauce, and set aside. Reserve some lemon sauce as garnish for the mushrooms.

Add 2-3 tbsp of cooking oil to a skillet and heat on high. After a minute, place the cutlets in the skillet. Grab a heavy pot or pan and press down on the cutlets to squeeze out excess water, allowing it to continue cooking under the pot for a minute or two. Grill and press both sides of each cutlet until crisped and brown. Don’t overcrowd the skillet while you cook, and keep the heat high (just keep a close eye to prevent it from burning).

Assemble the finished “squid” by using a toothpick to hold the cutlet into a round tube, with noodles at the base. Garnish with lemon sauce, lemon slices, capers, and sansho pepper. Serve (steak knives are helpful) and enjoy!