what’s your favourite food for lunch? cath’s all time favourite is calamari, especially on a sunny day with a pint of ice cold beer.
this time i made a little twist to the usual calamari recipe. this is calamari with a hint of lemon, thai style.
calamari thai style
what you’ll need:
1 x medium size squid
2-3 x dried kaffir lime leaves
4-5tbs x cornflour
1pinch x salt
1pinch x fresh ground pepper
1stalk x fresh lemongrass
1 x bird’s eye chilli pepper
5-6tbs x white wine vinegar
4tbs x sugar
1dash x soy sauce
1handful x rocket leaves
1 x plump, ripe tomato
500ml x olive oil
serves 1
- to make the dressing, heat the vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat then add chopped lemongrass, chilli, sugar and soy sauce when vinegar starts to boil. simmer for 5 minutes then remove from heat and set aside.
- prepare the squid by getting rid of the purple film on the outside first, then pull the tentacles to empty the ‘body’, save the tentacles and discard the eyes. also scrape away any remaining lumps and bones inside.
- now wash the squid and pat dry with kitchen towels. then cut the ‘ears’ off from the body and make them into smaller slices, cut the ‘body’ into 1/2 cm loops, and the tentacles into bite size.
- heat oil in a deep frying pan, make sure oil has at least 5cm depth.
- meanwhile, mix together the cornflour, salt, pepper and grounded kaffir leaves in a bowl.
- once the oil is hot enough (when it starts to smoke), put the pieces of squid in one by one, deep fry for about a minute until golden and crisp, drain on kitchen towel (do several batches if using a small pan).
- serve with salad, tomatoes and dressing – to make sure your calamari stay crisp, put the dressing in a small container instead of pouring it over the plate.
twistandtwirl 