Spice-fried calamari

Food & drink
Spicy deep fried Turkish calamari squid

I’m the only one in our house who will entertain the thought of eating squid, so this is a rare event.

I have to save it for those times when the rest of the family are away and I’m left to fend for myself.

One of two things tends to happen in these circumstances…either I end up grazing on leftovers from the fridge or making those things that nobody else will touch.

Well, y’know…shame to waste the opportunity…

This method of deep-frying squid is from Turkey, where it’s a popular street snack.  It’s very easy, just rings of squid fried in a pungent batter, a simple dish to pull together, but with plenty of flavour and bite.

Squid is either sold cleaned and prepared, pristine white tubes either fresh or frozen, ready to be sliced up and cooked, or whole.  Whole squid is the best bet, because it includes the tentacles – a definite bonus – but it needs cleaning and preparing, first.

This isn’t difficult, and there are plenty of tutorials about this out there, just bear in mind that squid contain ink, so it can be a messy business.

The batter is made from 100g of cornflour, 125g of plain flour and half a teaspoon of baking powder, with two and a half teaspoons each of chilli flakes, cumin seeds and paprika added, along with a teaspoon of salt and a generous teaspoon of ground black pepper.  Slowly add 300ml of beer to the flour, whisking all the time, until you’ve got a thick batter.  Add a little more flour or beer to adjust the consistency.

Dust the squid, rings and tentacles, in flour, dip it in the batter and deep fry it at 180c for a few minutes, until the batter is golden brown and puffed up.

Eat immediately with salt and lemon juice.

This recipe is from Leanne Kitchen’s wonderful book, Turkey: Recipes and Tales From the Road.