SALT AND CHILLI SQUID

I used to shy away from cooking with squid maybe because of it’s appearance but it is super easy to make. There’s also a sense of achievement when you whip up calamari at home. Here’s a really simple recipe to make fried salt and chilli calamari.

Featured pepper: Long red chillis

RECIPE TIME: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

4 sheets of Fresh squid

1 cup Plain flour

Flour seasoning:

1 tspn Chilli powder

1 tspn Onion powder

1 tspn All purpose seasoning

1 tspn Garlic powder

1 tspn Ginger powder

1 tspn Parsley

1 tspn White pepper

1 small Red onion

2 Red long chillis

3 Spring Onion

2 tbspn Soy sauce

2 tspn Brown sugar

Rock Salt

1. Clean and prep your squid. Make sure you clean the squid thoroughly removing the ink and the skeleton (looks like transparent plastic)

2. Cut the squid into rings or your preferred shape

3. Sieve around 1 cup of flour into a bowl. Add your flour seasonings to the bowl and stir so it’s evenly mixed

4. Toss the raw squid rings in the flour mixture till completely covered. As the squid is moist I don’t use any egg to make the flour blind but feel free to use some if you want a thicker batter

5. Heat your oil in a deep pan and let it heat up till you start to see bubbles. You need the oil to be hot to form the crispiness

6. Add your squid rings to the hot oil. Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes regularly turning the squid for an even golden coverage. You’ll know the rings are done when they rise to the surface .

7. Chop your red onion, red chillis and spring onion into cube like shapes

8. Add a small amount of sesame seed oil to a frying pan. Add the chopped onions and chillis to the pan to soften. Next add soy sauce and brown sugar to the pan and stir

9. Add the chopped bell peppers and spring onion and cook the mix for a couple minutes.

10. Finally the fried squid to the stir fry and toss through for around 3 minutes till hot. Sprinkle some extra salt and black pepper to the dish to finish it off. Perfect to serve with a dollop of the char bell!