Ask your fishmonger to clean and slice the fresh squid for you, if you don’t want to do it yourself. Bags of frozen (and cleaned) squid are widely available.
- 1/2 lb cleaned calamari tubes cut into rings
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 50g Arrowroot powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne or spice of your choice
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt and a little freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup of milk
- Refined olive oil (medium burn point) or organic cold pressed rape seed oil (high burn point) for shallow frying
- Choose a home made meatball sauce, lemon wedges, or aioli (or quick – mayo with a crushed garlic clove), for serving
- Side salad with olive oil, oregano, pepper and lemon juice dressing
Instructions
- Soak the calamari in a bowl with the lemon juice for 30 minutes to tenderise
- Preheat frying oil to 180 degrees C. I use a medium frying pan filled to about 3mm deep, but you can also use a deep fryer or a saucepan, no more than 1/3 full.
- In a medium bowl, combine the arrowroot and spice mix. Add half of this mixture to another medium bowl. Place the milk in a third bowl. Place the three bowls on the counter in the following order: spiced arrowroot, milk, and spiced arrowroot.
- Remove the calamari from the lemon juice, then dredge each piece in the arrowroot, shaking off any excess, then into the milk, shaking off the excess, then back into the second bowl of flour. Repeat with all the calamari.
- Fry the calamari in batches for about 2-3 minutes a side if shallow frying or total time if deep frying, until golden brown.
- Then drain in a bowl or on a paper towel and immediately salt the calamari generously while hot.
- Eat!
Nutrition
Calories: 351kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g
