Instructions: Many people shy away from dishes with names like Black Bean Sauce Squid because they think it involves the preparation of a complicated sauce. In fact it is quite easy. The black beans themselves, fermented and salted when you buy them, are the sauce. All you do is add a little rice wine to make a paste. Then its just like any other stir-frya couple of minutes of high-heat cooking, continuously stirring, and the dish is done.

Prepare black bean sauce mixture by adding to the beans: rice wine, soy sauce and sugar. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Saute garlic and ginger in the oil over medium heat in a heavy frying pan or wok until garlic is slightly browned. Turn up heat. Add squid and scallions. Stir-fry for 30 seconds. Pour in black bean sauce mixture, and cook for 2 minutes. Add cornstarch and, when sauce thickens, remove from heat and serve.

[Score squid diagonally at three quarter inch intervals. Turn and repeat at right angles to original cuts. Dont cut all the way through the squid body. Cut each scored squid body into three or four pieces. When cooked, the squid will roll up and the crosshatching will catch and hold the sauce. Its much easier to do than to describe. S.C.]

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