Look how time flies when your busy with work, errands and other things. I do apologize for being gone for a long time. I have been busy with work and running errands for my family and friends. My aunt who came visiting just went back to the USA last week. So I have been running around looking for gifts that she will bring back. At the same time my brother came home to visit. Not only that I am helping a HS girlfriend with her wedding preparations. As a result, I have a ton of photos that need editing, posts that needs to be written and entries that I still plan to make. So things have been pretty hectic.
As for this entry, I would like to share with you one of our favorite dishes. Calamares is made out of squid's body that is skinned, cleaned, sliced into rings, coated with corn or potato flour, dipped in beaten eggs and deep fried until crisp. This is paired off with either tartar sauce, sweet chilli sauce or mayo mustard dip. Personally I prefer using potato starch or flour than corn flour. It produces a more crunchier and crispier calamares.
Did I mention that it is made out of squid body? You might be wondering what about the head. We add that too and fry it as well. But we make sure that the squid heads are dried well else it would be too moist and would not turn into crispy pieces.
The Ingredients:
1/2 kilo fresh squid, skinned, cleaned and ink sacs removed
salt and pepper
2 tsp. lemon juice
ginger slices
1 beaten egg
potato flour
cooking oil
Cooking Procedure:
After cleaning, detach the head from the body of the squid. Slice the body into rings by 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch wide. Marinated in lemon juice and ginger slices to remove the fishy smell for about 20 minutes. Remove from the lemon juice and ginger and lay out on a rack to air dry a bit. Lightly coat with potato flour each piece, dip in the beaten egg then coat again with the potato flour. Fry by batches in very hot oil. Once the crust has turned golden brown, take it out of the oil and drain. Make sure that you do not over cook the squid else them may become tough.
Place drained cooked calamares on a dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with sweet chili sauce, ketchup, vinegar or tartar sauce.
My Notes:
- Use potato flour instead of corn starch. But if it is not available, cornstarch or corn flour.
- After cleaning the squid, air dry the squid to lessen the moisture.
- When cooking, the oil should be hot enough and the squid should be cooked in batches. Do not over-crowd the pan because this may cause the oil's temperature to drop.
- For a spicier approach, sprinkle salt, ground pepper and pepper flakes over hot cooked calamares.
2 comments:
I will try this one as it seems simple to cook. However, I will try frozen pre-cut squid rings which I've seen being sold at supermarkets. I hope it would be just as delicious.
That will work well too Roy. I haven't tried frozen squids. Just make sure that you thaw it well and there is not much liquid else you might end up splattering yourself with the hot oil.
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