Stir-fried squid with telosma cordata flowers is a dish with a fairly simple preparation method but a harmonious combination of the natural sweetness, chewiness, and crispiness of squid and young green telosma cordata flowers. To make the dish delicious, the squid needs to be stir-fried just until cooked, while the telosma cordata flowers still retain their green color and light crispiness, without being mushy or blackened.

With the recipe for stir-fried squid with telosma cordata flowers shared by Ola Squid below, you only need to prepare familiar ingredients and follow each step in turn to have a delicious, flavorful stir-fry for your family meal.

Summary of content

Ingredients for stir-fried squid with telosma cordata flowers

Before starting, you should prepare all the ingredients so that the stir-frying process is quick and retains the freshness of the squid as well as the telosma cordata flowers. The ingredient measurements below are suitable for about 2–3 people:

Ingredients	Measurements
Fresh squid	500g
Telosma cordata flowers	300g
Garlic	3–4 cloves
Shallots	1 bulb
Cooking oil	1–2 tablespoons
Fish sauce	1 tablespoon
Oyster sauce	1 tablespoon
Sugar	½ teaspoon
Ground pepper	½ teaspoon
Salt	½ teaspoon
Fresh ginger	1 small knob

You can adjust the amount of fish sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar to taste. If you like the stir-fry to have a mild spicy taste, you can prepare additional sliced fresh chili to enhance the flavor.

Ingredients for stir-frying squid with telosma cordata flowers

How to choose fresh ingredients for stir-frying

Fresh ingredients help the stir-fried squid with telosma cordata flowers dish have a natural sweetness. Non-fresh squid can become fishy or release a lot of water when stir-fried, while old telosma cordata flowers easily become tough and lose their crispiness.

How to choose fresh squid

When buying squid, you should prioritize those with firm bodies, natural colors, and no abnormal odors. Fresh squid has shiny skin, clear eyes, and the head and body are still relatively firmly attached to each other.

Some characteristics to identify fresh squid:

Firm, elastic squid body: When lightly pressing with your hand, the flesh is elastic and quickly returns to its original shape.
Shiny squid skin: The skin layer is intact, not scratched or abnormally turning cloudy.
Clear squid eyes: The eyes are clear, not cloudy or showing signs of slime.
Natural smell: Fresh squid has a characteristic smell of seafood, with no unpleasant or strong abnormal fishy smell.
Head and body are still firmly attached: The head is not loose or easily separated from the body when picked up.

If you buy pre-cleaned squid, you should still check the firmness and smell of the squid before processing.

Fresh and delicious squid with shiny skin

Reference: How to choose fresh and delicious squid that not everyone knows

How to choose fresh green telosma cordata flowers

Good telosma cordata flowers are those fresh flower clusters with a natural green color, medium-sized flower buds, and young stems. When held, the flowers are crispy, not crushed or yellowed.

You should avoid flower parts with the following signs:

Leaves and flowers turning yellow or too dark green.
Stems are wilted, soft, or crushed.
Flowers are bloomed too large, petals are dry.
There are many black spots or signs of slime.

Fresh telosma cordata flowers will help the stir-fry have a beautiful green color, a light sweetness, and moderate crispiness after cooking.

Fresh green telosma cordata flowers, with newly opened buds

Steps to make stir-fried squid with telosma cordata flowers

After preparing all the ingredients, you should process and partition the stir-frying time reasonably. Squid and telosma cordata flowers have different cooking times, so stir-frying the squid first and then the telosma cordata flowers will help both ingredients retain their delicious texture, limiting the squid from becoming tough or the flowers from becoming soft.

Step 1 – Preparing the squid

When you buy squid, clean the internal organs, remove the eyes, mouth, and the inner membrane. Wash the squid with clean water, then you can lightly rub it with a bit of crushed ginger or quickly soak it in ginger water to reduce the fishy smell. Wash again and let it drain completely.

Depending on the type of squid, you can leave it whole, cut into rings, or slice into bite-sized pieces. If using squid, you can lightly score a few lines on the body to make the squid look beautiful and absorb seasonings easily.

Step 2 – Marinating the squid

Put the drained squid into a bowl, add about ½ tablespoon of fish sauce, ½ tablespoon of oyster sauce, ½ teaspoon of sugar, and a bit of ground pepper. Mix well so the seasonings coat the squid and marinate for about 10–15 minutes.

You should not marinate the squid for too long or add too much seasoning from the beginning because the squid can release water, and the dish can easily become salty after being stir-fried with the telosma cordata flowers.

Step 3 – Preparing other ingredients

Pick through the telosma cordata flowers to remove pest-damaged, crushed, or wilted flowers, then wash 2-3 times with water and drain.

Cut off the roots of green onions and cilantro, wash well, drain, and cut into sections about 1 finger joint long. Peel, wash, and finely mince garlic and shallots.

Preparing telosma cordata flowers, onions, and garlic

Step 4 – Stir-frying the squid first

Place a pan on the stove and heat it. Add cooking oil, fry shallots, garlic, and a bit of ginger until fragrant. When the aromatics release their scent, add the marinated squid and stir-fry over high heat. Stir quickly for about 2–3 minutes, until the squid is just firm and turns opaque white, then turn off the heat and transfer the squid to a plate.

You should not stir-fry the squid for too long in this step because the squid will continue to be heated when stir-fried with the telosma cordata flowers. Stir-frying just until cooked will help the squid retain its natural tenderness, sweetness, and crispiness.

Step 5 – Stir-frying the telosma cordata flowers

Keep the same pan, if necessary add a little cooking oil, then add the telosma cordata flowers. Stir-fry over high heat and stir quickly so the flowers are evenly exposed to the heat.

When the telosma cordata flowers start to turn a darker green and are just slightly wilted, add the stir-fried squid to the pan. Season with the remaining fish sauce, oyster sauce, and a little pepper to taste. Stir well for about another 30 seconds to 1 minute, then turn off the heat.

You should not stir-fry the telosma cordata flowers for too long. Prolonging the cooking time can make the flowers soft, watery, and lose their beautiful green color.

Stir-frying telosma cordata flowers and squid

Step 6 – Finished product

When finished, scoop the stir-fried squid with telosma cordata flowers onto a plate and serve immediately while still hot. The squid should meet the requirements of being firm, moderately crispy, with a natural sweetness and lightly absorbed seasonings. The telosma cordata flowers still retain their green color, tender crispiness, and characteristic aroma.

The dish is best enjoyed hot with white rice. The rich flavor of the squid combined with the light telosma cordata flowers makes the family meal more appealing without needing too elaborate preparation.

Delicious stir-fried squid with telosma cordata flowers

Reference more delicious stir-fried squid recipes:

Secrets to stir-frying telosma cordata flowers without turning black

Telosma cordata flowers cook quickly, so if they are not handled correctly, they can discolor, become mushy, or look unappealing. To keep the telosma cordata flowers green and crispy after stir-frying, you should note some points during processing:

Stir-fry quickly over high heat: The pan needs to be hot enough before adding the telosma cordata flowers. High heat helps the flowers cook quickly without staying on the stove for too long.
Do not cover the pan when stir-frying: Covering the pan traps steam inside, making the telosma cordata flowers easily steam-cooked, soft, and discolored.
Season at the very end: You should not add too much fish sauce or seasonings when starting to stir-fry the flowers. Seasoning when the flowers are just slightly wilted helps limit water release and retains their natural delicious flavor.
Turn off the heat as soon as the flowers are just slightly wilted: When the telosma cordata flowers have just turned a darker green and still retain their crispiness, you should add the squid, stir quickly, and then turn off the heat. The remaining heat in the pan will continue to cook the ingredients.

You should not stir-fry squid and telosma cordata flowers at the same time

In addition, you should choose fresh telosma cordata flowers and process them immediately after purchase. Flowers left for too long under inappropriate conditions will easily wilt, bruise, and be difficult to keep a beautiful green color after stir-frying.

The recipe for stir-fried squid with telosma cordata flowers is not too complicated; you just need to choose fresh ingredients and stir-fry the squid and telosma cordata flowers separately to control the doneness. When executed on high heat, stirring quickly, and turning off the heat at the right time, you will have a dish of firm, crispy, flavorful squid combined with fresh, green, lightly crispy, and delicious telosma cordata flowers.

If you love dishes made from squid, you can also refer to many other recipes and tips for using dried squid at Ola Squid to transform seafood ingredients into attractive dishes for your family.

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Ingredients for stir-fried squid with telosma cordata flowers