Squid in Black Stew (Sotong masak Hitam)

I had just finished cooking this dish for sahur later. However, the camera had died on me and therefore, am unable to snap any pic of it. This dish, has been hubby's and my favourite. Funniest thing about this dish is, the blacker and thicker it is, the better!

Ingredients

(To blend)

7 red chillies

3 green chillies

3 bird's eye chilli

2 cm belachan (dried shrimp paste)

3 cloves of garlic

1 onion

a handful of dried shrimps

some water
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3 squids, cleaned and cut into thick rings (do not discard the black juice of the squid)

1 stalk of lemongrass (pound the two ends lightly)
half cm of yellow ginger (diced finely)

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in wok.
2. Put in the blended ingredients and lemongrass. Stir till fragrant.
3. Add in yellow ginger and salt. Stir.
4. Add squids in and stir.
5. Add the black juice of the squids and stir. By now, the dish has turned black.
6. Bring it to boil.
7. Once boiled, remove squids.
8. Continue to heat the gravy till it becomes thicker. We have to remove the squids first as overheating may cause the squids to turn hard.
9. Once gravy is thick the way you want it, pour in the squids.
10. Stir one last time and turn off heat.
11. Serve with hot, steamed rice. *slurps*

I certainly can't wait for sahur. Oooohh...4 more hours only. :)