Crispy Salt and Pepper Squid
This dish reminds us of our trips to Australia, sitting somewhere on sunny Sydney Harbour with a cold beer and tucking in to a freshly prepared dish of crispy salt and pepper squid.
Note: Deep frying anything can be dangerous, make sure you are very careful when deep frying as you have the combined risk of giving yourself a horrific burn or setting your house on fire.
Ingredients
600g cleaned squid, fresh
50g Potato Starch
50g Glutinous rice flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt (use 1 if you don't like your food too salty)
2 teaspoons black pepper
Fresh Red Chillis, sliced (optional, for garnish)
Fresh Coriander, roughly chopped (optional, for garnish)
Fresh limes (for adding juice when serving, optional)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: Serves 4 people as an appetizer/tapas size portion
Method
Open up the squid by slicing along lenghtwise on one side and score the inside lightly with a criss cross pattern (don't cut the whole way through)
Cut the squid into triangles (doesn't have to be exact) Triangles hold the batter better than rings but you can also cut into rings if thats what you fancy
Heat up your deep fat frier/chip pan to about 200c. You'll want to cook the squid pieces at 180c but when you throw 6 or 7 squid pieces into the oil it will cause the temperature to drop
Combine the rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, salt & pepper in a bowl and mix well, dust the squid pieces one by one and drop into the hot oil
You'll need to deep fry the squid for 2 minutes then remove and place on a rack to dry (put a tray under the rack to catch the oil) Don't overcrowd the frier though, as it will bring the temperature down too far, I do about 7 or 8 at a time in my normal sized chip pan, and then do another batch
Serve with the chillis, coriander and lime wedges (let people squeeze their own lime juice as if it sits on the squid for too long it will make it go soggy)
Enjoy!
