Salt & pepper squid

Ingredients

• 85g Corn Flour
• 85g Plain Flour
• 2 tsp Black Pepper
• 2 tsp Szechuan Peppercorns
• For frying Sunflower Oil
• 400g Squid
• Sliced Spring Onions
• Sliced Green Chilli
• 1 chopped Red Chilli
• 1/2 Cucumber
• 1 chopped Red Onions
• 100 ml Rice Vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Caster Sugar
• 2 tsp Fish Sauce

Quantities are the original recipe’s. The cost is our own estimate — typical own-brand supermarket prices for these quantities, divided by 4 servings. TheMealDB does not state how many a dish serves, so 4 is our assumption, not theirs. Treat it as “about this much a head”, not a shopping bill.

Method

1. Stir the cucumber, red onion, chopped red chilli, rice vinegar, caster sugar and fish sauce together in a bowl until the sugar dissolves, then set the sauce aside.
2. In a separate large bowl, combine the cornflour, plain flour, black pepper, Szechuan peppercorns and 2 tsp sea salt.
3. Line a tray with kitchen paper and keep extra salt nearby for seasoning the squid once cooked.
4. Pour about 7cm of sunflower oil into a wok, deep pan or deep fryer and heat to 180C; without a thermometer, check readiness by dropping in a cube of bread, which should brown in 20 secs.
5. Toss the squid through the flour mixture until well coated, then fry in batches for about 2 mins each, until crisp and golden.
6. Lift the squid out with a slotted spoon onto the lined tray to drain, and scatter over a little more salt.
7. Pile the squid onto a plate, scatter with sliced spring onions and green chilli, and serve with the dipping sauce alongside.

These steps were written by StreetOwl from the original recipe, in British English, with every oven temperature and cooking time checked against the source. They are not the original author’s words. If anything reads oddly, the original is linked below and it wins.