Author Notes
This is a classic preparation in Vietnam, except usually we make it with squid. The baby octopus just looked really good at the market that time, so we thought - why not? With squid, you would slice it thin or score criss-cross on a 2x2'' piece of squid, to make it cook fast without getting chewy, and absorb the sauce. I took a chance with baby octopus and saute it really fast, and then cut it up when we eat. There is a slight chewy texture, but not in a bad way!! —matchaflan
Ingredients
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1 pound
baby octopus, cleaned
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1 bunch
Chinese celery
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2
tomatoes, sliced
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3 tablespoons
fish sauce, or to taste
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3 tablespoons
sriracha
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Juice of half a lemon
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1
onion
Directions
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1. Marinade the octopus in sriracha, fish sauce and juice of half a lemon for 15-20 minutes. In the meantime wash and cut the long Chinese celery into thirds or quarters (length-wise).
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2. In a large saute pan, saute the onion until soft , then add the celery and saute for 5 minutes until soft but still a bit crunchy. Add the baby octopus and its marinade and stir quickly, saute only until just cooked (the meat will be pokeable with a chopstick, not transparent, not too soft).
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Push the octopus to the outside rim of your pan where it's less hot, or you can even REMOVE the octopus from the pan. Add the tomatoes last for another 3-5 minutes until just cooked. If you have a really really large pan, you can put in the octopus and tomatoes together at the same time. Serve and enjoy!
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