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Crispy calamari with Asian dressing

Crispy calamari with Asian dressing

Irish Times05-07-2025
Serves
:
2
Course
:
Dinner
Cooking Time
:
5 mins
Prep Time
:
15 mins
Ingredients
For the Asian dressing:
1 red chilli, seeds removed
1 small piece of ginger, peeled
1tbs vegetable oil
50ml rice wine vinegar
50ml soy sauce
2tbs fish sauce
1tsp cornflour
1tsp honey
1 lime, juice and zest
2 large squid tubes, cleaned
About 80g self-raising flour
About 80g rice flour
Sea salt and black pepper
Vegetable oil
Handful fresh coriander leaves, picked
Handful fresh mint leaves, picked
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
Start by making the dressing. Finely dice the chilli and ginger and add to a small pot with the vegetable oil. Cook over a medium heat for three minutes until softened, stirring regularly, then add the vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, cornflour and honey. Stir together and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Allow to cool before finishing with some lime juice and zest, then set aside.
Slice the cleaned squid tubes into rings about 1-1½cm thick. Add the flour and rice flour to a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and mix together with a spoon.
Heat the oil in a wide-based pot (you want about one inch of oil in the pot). Test the oil is hot enough by dropping a bit of flour in; if it sizzles straight away, it's ready. Place the squid rings in the flour blend and dredge well until evenly coated, then place on a plate, ready to fry.
Carefully place them in the oil using a tongs and shallow fry for two to three minutes until golden brown and crispy on the outside, then remove the calamari from the pot with a tongs and place in a bowl.
Add a few spoons of the Asian dressing to the calamari to evenly coat in the sauce, then place in a serving bowl. Serve alongside a small salad bowl of the picked coriander and mint leaves and garnish with some thinly sliced red chilli.
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