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Crispy salt and pepper squid
Serves 8 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 1kg baby squid
- 2tsp black peppercorns
- 2tsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 2tsp sea salt
- 60g cornflour
- groundnut oil, for deep-frying
- 6 spring onions
- 2 red chillies sliced
- 4 garlic cloves
- juice of half a lime
- 4 heaped tbsp coriander
Method
Clean and prepare the squid and cut it into 2cm rings. Pat it dry with kitchen paper. Drying it like this will ensure extra crispiness.
Heat a dry frying pan and toast the peppercorns until they are aromatic. Put them into a pestle and mortar along with the sea salt, and crush to a coarse powder. Empty into a bowl and mix in with the cornflour.
Heat the oil over a high flame in a pan until shimmering. Place the squid in a bowl with the salt and pepper flour and mix well. Shake off the excess flour, then fry the squid in the hot oil for 1 minute. Any longer and you’ll end up with the texture of a rubber band. Drain well on kitchen paper.
When you have finished frying the squid, remove most of the oil from the pan, bar a few tablespoons, and flash fry the spring onions, chillies and garlic for a minute. Drain and mix well with the squid. Drizzle the lime juice over the top and sprinkle over the coriander. Don’t waste any time in tucking in.
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