Baby Octopus In Black Bean/Oyster Sauce On A Crisp Egg Noodle Pillow

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Visiting my Asian food store is such a great food shopping experience. I usually go to stock up on sauces, Asian noodles, special veggies and the occasional specialty item I can’t find at my regular hunting grounds.
However, as it is usually the case when I go shopping for “just a few things, necessities”, I always end up buying too much stuff I did not set-out to get. That’s how I ended up with 2,5 lbs flash-frozen baby octopus, without a plan (yet) how to prep them. Alas, it really does not matter for me how baby octopus (or any other octopus, for that matter), is prepared, I love them any which way – so, or so, or so 🙂
Lately, I ate grilled steak and sautéed meat cuts with potatoes and rice quite often, so it was time to go back to pasta and lots of good sauce. Here now is how these tiny, frozen, beautiful creatures transformed into a most lovely dish, served over a heavenly “crisp on the outside, soft on the inside” egg noodle pillow 🙂
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for more Octopus on ChefsOpinion
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Click here for more Crispy Noodle Pillows on ChefsOpinion
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P.S.
I like my noodle pillows “crisp on the outside but soft on the inside”. If you prefer more crispness towards the center, cook the pillow in 3 cups of oil instead of the two tblsp I used here, and raise the temperature of the oil so the noodles are actually frying instead of sauteing, as I did here. (Either way, good stuff) 🙂
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plate the crispy noodle pillow, top the pillow with the octopus and sauce, garnish with chives

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
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: in 2 tblsp peanut oil, saute on VERY low heat 1 lb (raw) cooked egg noodles or pasta of your choice, seasoned with kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste

: when the noodles are crisp, flip and cook on second side to a crisp and golden brown

: the good stuff 🙂

: mix 1/ cup chicken stock, 1/2 cup say sauce, 1 tblsp fermented black bean sauce, 1 tblsp oyster sauce, 1 tblsp toasted sesame seed oil, 1 tsp garlic paste, 1 tsp granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp grated ginger and 1 tblsp chili paste

: to 2,5 lbs baby octopus add 2 tblsp rice flour and 13 cup of the sauce ingredients, marinade for at least 30 minutes

: stir fry the baby octopus in 1 cup of VERY HOT peanut oil for 1 minute, remove with a slotted spoon to a thick layer of absorbent paper, discard all but 1 tblsp of the remaining peanut oil

: ready to eat, BUT WAIT, there is more to come !

: in the remaining 1 tblsp peanut oil, saute julienne of 1 medium size white onion, julienne of 1 red pepper and 2 10 ea basil leaves for 1 minute

: add 1 lb (raw) blanched baby bok choy

: add the sauce mix, bring to a simmer, add the baby octopus, simmer for no more that 10 seconds (just to give the rice flour time to thicken but NOT to toughen the octopus), remove from heat