Salt and Pepper Squid with Lime Mayo
I adore calamari and will happily make a whole meal of it, which is roughly what happens every time I cook this. Salt and pepper squid is a takeaway favourite that turns out to be almost embarrassingly straightforward at home, and it costs about a quarter of the price.
Two things keep squid tender and both come down to speed. Get the oil properly hot before anything goes near it, and give each piece a minute or two at the very most. Squid turns from tender to rubbery somewhere around three minutes and there is no coming back from that.
Corn flour rather than plain flour is what gives the coating its light, brittle crust instead of a heavy batter. Toss the strips through it at the last moment and shake off everything loose, because the excess just burns in the oil and turns the whole pan bitter.
Ask the fishmonger to clean the squid and you have skipped the only unpleasant job in the recipe. Serve it the moment it leaves the pan with the lime mayo alongside. It does not keep or reheat, though it has never lasted long enough for that to be tested.
Salt and Pepper Squid with Lime Mayo
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 people
Serving size: 186g
Calories per serving: 334
Fat per serving: 21.2g
Ingredients
- 500g squid, cleaned, bodies scored and cut into strips
- 4 tbsp corn flour
- 2 tsp flaky sea salt
- 2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 red chilli, finely sliced
- 2 spring onions, finely sliced
- 6 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 lime, zested and juiced
- Sunflower oil for frying
Method
- Pat the squid strips very dry with kitchen paper. Mix the corn flour, flaky sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper together in a wide bowl.
- Stir the lime zest and half the lime juice into the mayonnaise, season it and set the bowl aside.
- Pour sunflower oil into a deep pan to a depth of about 2cm and heat it until a pinch of the seasoned flour sizzles on contact.
- Toss the squid through the seasoned corn flour and shake off every bit of excess before it goes into the pan.
- Fry in three batches for 1-2 minutes, until pale gold and crisp, lifting each batch onto kitchen paper. Any longer and the squid will toughen.
- Scatter the sliced chilli and spring onions over the top, squeeze on the remaining lime juice and serve at once with the lime mayo.
