Peruvian cuisine is heavily influenced by Japanese cuisine. The recipe below combines the best of both worlds. The octopus tentacles were marinated in typical Japanese flavours gentled cooked in a sous bath over 5 hours until soft and tender, then finished over a Japanese hibachi grill for that lovely smoky char flavour. The accompaniments were traditional Peruvian flavours, a spicy tangy aji verde sauce and a simple quinoa cooked in the octopus marinade to fully absorb that amazing octopus juice.
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 15 min prep, 6 hrs cooking*
Serves: 2
* Most of the cooking time is for the sous vide octopus (5 hrs). The actual cooking time is approximately 1.5 hrs including starting the hibachi grill.
Ingredients
Octopus
- 600g large octopus tentacles
- olive oil
Marinade
- 2 tbsp kombu dashi*
- 1 tbsp bonito dashi*
- 2.5 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp sake
- 2 tbsp light soya sauce
- 1/2 tbsp yuzu juice
Aji Verde
- 3 cloves of garlic finely sliced
- 1/2 red onion finely chopped
- 5 tbsp fresh coriander leaves
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 jalapeno chopped
- 1 tbsp habanero chopped
- 2 heaped tbsp good quality mayonnaise
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- salt
- pepper
Tricolour Quinoa
- 1 cup tricolour quinoa (white, black, red)
- 1 1/2 cup of octopus cooking liquid (approx)**
- 1/2 cup chicken stock**
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt
To serve
- 1 fresh lime
* Both available in bottles from Japanese grocery.
** Proportion may vary depending on how much cooking liquid you have. This should be a total of 2 cups liquid to 1 cup of quinoa.
Method
The night prior
1. Blanch the octopus in a large pot of boiling water until the tentacles curl up. Take it out of the pot and soak it an ice water bath.
2. Make the marinade by mixing all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Dry the octopus thoroughly with paper towel and put it in the bowl to marinade overnight.
On the day
1. Place the octopus and marinade in a zip lock bag. Cook in sous vide over 77 degrees for 5 hours. Once ready take it out and soak it in an ice water bath. Dry and set aside for cooking later.
2. One hour before the octopus is ready, prepare your hibachi grill so the charcoal is nice and hot for grilling later.
3. Make the aji verde by pan frying 2 cloves of sliced garlic and chopped onions until softened. Add it with the rest of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until it's smooth. Set aside.
4. Start cooking the quinoa by sautéing the garlic and onion with oil until fragrant and softened. Add the quinoa grains and cook for 1 minute. Add the octopus and chicken stock, bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the liquid has been fully absorbed and cooked through over low heat.
4. Take the octopus out of the sous vide bags and plunge it into an ice bath. Dry thoroughly and brush with olive oil. Place the tentacles on the hibachi grill over high heat until they get a nice char.
5. Slice up the octopus and serve with the quinoa, aiji verde and lime.
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