Deep Fried Squid

I have been wondering for a while which first recipe to share with you all. I was born in Mauritius, a paradise island in the Indian Ocean where we have the freshest seafood available. So, let me share my quickest seafood dish with you today- Deep Fried Squid. It’s on our dining table quite often. It can be served as a starter or a side dish along with a nice chilled beer ;) The Deep fried squid from the pictures below were made on 2 different occasions- in the first picture, I used fresh squid and I found the texture and the colour different from second picture where I used frozen carved squid. But both were tender inside and crispy on the outside :) Hurry up, make yourself a batch of these babies and enjoy!!!

Ingredients:

500g of fresh squid (You can use frozen one if it’s not available but make sure it’s thawed before cooking. You can also buy the carved ones so as not to take time for cutting)

1 cup of liquid milk

1 cup of plain flour

5 tbsp of cornstarch (corn flour)

Salt (to taste)

Black Pepper (to taste)

Oil for deep frying

1tsp of Paprika (optional)

1 tsp of garlic powder (optional)

Optional:

1 tbsp of finely chopped garlic

1 large onion chopped

1 red chilli finely chopped /chilli flakes

Finely chopped spring onions

1 tbsp of oil

Method:

1          Take the squid and lay it flat on a chopping board and with the help of a knife make a criss-cross pattern on the flesh. Cut them into bite size pieces. Cover the pieces with milk and refrigerate for a good 5 hours. (This will make the flesh tender, else it will be too chewy)

2        When you are ready to fry, heat up enough oil for deep frying and whilst this is being heated, mix the dry ingredients- cornstarch/corn flour, plain flour, paprika (optional), garlic powder (optional), salt and pepper.

3         Drain the squid and pat it dry using a kitchen towel.

4        Coat the pieces well in the dry mixture.

5        Shake off any excess flour before deep frying.

6        Fry until golden brown.

7        Place on kitchen paper to absorb excess oil.

If you serving as a starter, you can do so by serving it with lemon wedges, garlic mayonnaise or simply ketchup, sweet chilli sauce or Tabasco sauce.

If you serving it as a side dish along with fried rice or fried noodle, then follow the following steps.

Method:

1          Take a non stick pan and heat it up.

2        Add in the oil, chopped garlic, onions, and chillies. Once the onions become translucent add it the deep fried squid pieces and toss them.

3         Sprinkle the spring onions and give a final toss and serve hot.

Enjoy and stay tuned for more yummy recipes : )