Stir-fried Squid with Garlic

If memory serves me correctly, this was my first experience of Thai cookery, more than eighteen years ago. Fresh squid is quickly stir-fried with chillies, basil and garlic – a mixture, one chef pronounced, mandated by heaven. Squid is an inexpensive and nutritious food but one sorely lacking in lively taste, a deficiency brilliantly supplied by the assertive virtues of these seasonings.

Once the squid meat has been prepared, the dish is only minutes away from completion – for maxim