Thai Style Sotong (Squid)

Clean the squid by removing the head, skin, and innards. Score the squid bodies with shallow cuts in a crosshatch pattern, being careful not to cut all the way through. Keep the tentacles separate.

Prepare a bowl of ice water for chilling the squid later.

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the cleaned and scored squid bodies and tentacles to the boiling water.

Blanch the squid for about 1 minute, or until the water returns to a boil. Do not overcook, as it will make the squid tough.

Immediately remove the blanched squid from the hot water and transfer it into the prepared ice water. Let it soak for 2-3 minutes to stop the cooking process and maintain a firm, bouncy texture.

Drain the squid from the ice water and pat it dry with paper towels. Wrap it and place it in the refrigerator to chill until ready to serve.

Cut the calamansi limes in half and squeeze out the juice into a small bowl, straining out the seeds. Reserve some lime slices for garnish.

Chop the coriander leaves finely. Separate the coriander roots, as they will be used for pounding in the sauce (though the video shows only leaves being chopped for the sauce, and roots for other dishes, I'll follow the video's visual for this recipe).

Remove the ends from the garlic cloves and peel them. Remove the stems from the green and red chili padi.

In a mortar, add the green and red chili padi. Pound them until they are coarsely crushed, not a fine paste.

Add the garlic cloves to the mortar with the crushed chilies. Pound them together until well combined and coarsely crushed.

Add salt, sugar, oyster sauce, and fish sauce to the mortar. Stir well with a spoon to dissolve the sugar and combine all the flavors.

Add the finely chopped coriander leaves and the squeezed calamansi juice to the sauce mixture. Stir gently to incorporate.

Arrange the chilled squid bodies and tentacles on a serving plate. Garnish with the reserved calamansi slices.

Spoon the prepared Thai-style chili-lime sauce generously over the squid.