Crispy Asian Salt and Chilli Squid

Theres a local restaurant does the best Salt and Chilli Squid I’ve tried but their recipe is a closely guarded secret! So I put my thinking cap on and came up with this recipe. If you’re trying this at home the only thing I would say is you need to get the freshest squid possible. This recipe will serve 4 people as a sharing plate.

You will need:

3 Good Sized Squid (get you fishmonger to clean, skin and de-beak the squid)

5 tbs Plain Flour

4 tbs Cornflour

1 tsp Salt

1 tbs Dried Chilli Flakes

1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice

1/2 tsp White Pepper

1 tsp Garlic Powder

2 Limes

Fresh Red and Green Chillies

2 Eggs

50ml Water

2lt Oil for Deep Frying

For the Dressing

5 tbs Light Soy

Juice of 1 Lime

1 tsp Grated Ginger

1/2 Red Chilli Finely Chopped

1 tsp Honey

1/2 Garlic Clove Finely Chopped

1. Prepare the dipping sauce first. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir. Cover and place in the fridge until needed.
2. In a bowl add the flour, cornflour, chilli flakes, salt, pepper, garlic granules and five spice.
3. Take your squid and carefully insert your knife inside the body and cut from the bottom to the top to open up the flesh so you have one flat piece of squid. Once you have done this cut long strips from bottom to top about 1 cm in width.
4. For the tentacles cut away the top where the legs attach so they separate. Put it all in a sieve or colander and rinse.
5. Crack 2 eggs in to a bowl then add 50ml or a splash of water and whisk.
6. This is the important part. Heat your oil in a deep fat fryer or pan to 190 degrees. Its essential that you cook the squid quickly so the coating goes crispy but the squid stays tender.
7. Once the oil is ready drop half of the squid in to egg then straight in to the flour. Give it a good roll around to make sure its all covered then drop each piece in to the oil. The squid will only take about a minute to cook but it will float to the top when its done. Take out and drain on some kitchen paper. Repeat the process with the remaining squid.
8. Arrange on the plate and sprinkle over a little sea salt and plenty of fresh chilli. Place a couple of pieces of lime on the plate and squeeze over before serving.

Enjoy!