Taiwan's Version of Shrimp Cocktail - Seafood With Five Flavor Sauce

If you like shrimp cocktail then most likely you'll also fall for Taiwan's boiled seafood served with five flavor sauce.

Boiled Shrimps and Cuttlefish with Five Flavor Sauce - 

Ingredients?

• 24 to 30 shrimps
• 1 medium cuttlefish
• 1 small chunk ginger

Sauce:

• 8 teaspoons ketchup
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce paste
• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1 red chili (optional)

How?

Let's start out with prepping the seafood. I used shrimps and cuttlefish here, so for the shrimps peel and devein them. As for the cuttlefish, it might be easier to just ask the seller to prep it for you. Otherwise, usually you'll have to remove the tentacles from the body. Remove the inner cuttlebone, organs, ink sac, beak, and even the outer layer skin for better yet tender texture in the end.

Slice the tentacles to shorter sections. Score the cuttlefish meaty part in a crosshatch pattern if preferred then slice the cuttlefish into medium bite size pieces.

Prepare a pot of water and toss in one small chunk of ginger. Bring to a boil then add in the cuttlefish first. Just a moment later add in the shrimps. The point is to boil the seafood of your choice till they just got cooked through. Drain and maybe transfer to a bowl filled with icy cold water and ice cubes to quickly lower the temperature, but that's totally up to you.

I simply transfer drained seafood to serving plate and set aside. Or you can move the plate of cooked seafood to the fridge while making the sauce in the meantime. That'll help cool-down the seafood faster too.

Mix all the ingredients listed under the "sauce" section. If adding red chilies, destem and remove the seeds, then give the chili a fine chop before adding to the bunch. Taste and adjust if needed. The sauce should be tangy and a bit sweet, also a tiny kick from the grated ginger and grated garlic. 

Serve the sauce with boiled seafood. Ideally chilled seafood, just like how you would enjoy a classic shrimp cocktail, but Taiwanese version.

After tasting the five flavor sauce, one should be able to detect some similarities shared with western's shrimp cocktail sauce. Especially both sauces use the same base ingredient ketchup. I would say that western shrimp cocktail sauce is slightly on the milder side. Taiwan's five flavor sauce got a bit more kick due to the garlic and ginger.

Seafood-wise, I used shrimps and cuttlefish here. However, you can simply use any meaty seafood of your liking, mussels and little octopus would be two good options.

Extended reading:

• Cilantro garlic chili sauce 香菜大蒜辣椒
• Crunchy shallot and garlic chili oil