Salt and Pepper Squid

This is the Chinese style version of the dish, and this stuff is good.

If you have a deep fryer or a powerful enough wok burner, then it's a pretty simple dish to make.

First, lightly season the squid with a little salt and pepper. Go easy here as the real flavour comes later.

The batter is a 50/50 mixture of plain flour and corn flour (or a starch), and one egg yolk. The batter should be relatively dry, which is important to get a good crunch. On high heat, deep-fry the squid for about two to three minutes, or until golden and crunchy. Set aside.

Finely chop an onion, a couple cloves of garlic, a few chillies, some spring onion and a few stalks of coriander.

In a wok or fry pan, stir-fry the onion and garlic with a little oil first. Then add the chilli and the fried squid. Immediately follow this with a couple of dashes of Chinese cooking wine and a sprinkling of five spice salt mix. Chuck in the spring onion and coriander, mix it up quickly and serve. The whole stir-frying process should only take a couple of minutes. Any longer and your beautifully crispy squid starts to get soggy.

Enjoy! goes great with a glass of wine or beer.

Sai