Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Calamari Fry (Squid, kanava in tamil)

I love this calamari from my childhood onwards. I love this dish in fry form or else like poriyal. But after coming to US i was searching for this fish. But i really dont know how to clean this fish.I have seen my mom taking some black ink from this fish. So i was in a dilemma whether to really buy this fish or not. To my surprise i saw cleaned calamari's in fish section in a grocery store one day. Wow very happy and tried this. It really rocked because of its taste and childhood memories.!!


You will need:

  • 2 cups calamari rings (cut the calamari into small rings like onions) You can use tentacles if you like it or else just use the rings.
  • 1 cup All purpose flour
  • ¼ cup corn flour
  • ¼ cup semolina rava
  • 1 tsp chilli powder(Marinade)
  • ½ tsp pepper powder (Marinade)
  • ½ tsp garam masala powder (Marinade)
  • salt for taste (Marinade)
  • ½ tsp sugar (Marinade)
  • 1 egg white (Marinade) can go for whole egg too
  • Oil for deep frying
Step 1:

Cut the calamari into small rings like ½ cm thickness and wash it thoroughly.

Step 2:

Marinate the calamari with chilli powder, pepper powder, salt, sugar, garam masala powder, egg for minimum 5 hours. I prefer overnight.

Step 3 :

Now mix all the dry flour (All purpose, corn flour, and semolina rava) together in a bowl. Now coat the calamari with these flour and take out the extra flour by sifting.

Step 4:

Now heat the oil medium high and deep fry the calamari for less than 1 min until the flour gets golden colour.

Hint: Don"t overcook the calamari. It will turn rubbery. When cooking calamari we have to be very careful. It needs very less time to cook.

Cooking Calamari:

The proper temperature and timing also determine calamari's tenderness. In general, cook them briefly over moderate to high heat (30 seconds to 2 minutes) or slowly over low heat (at least 30 minutes).

Serve hot with tartar sauce, or mayo chilli sauce( just combine 1 cup mayo with ¼ cup chilli sause). Garnish with lemon wedges and coriander leaves.

How to make tartar sauce from Mayonnaise.

1 cup mayo
1 tbsp dill pickles chopped
2 tbsp onion chopped
salt a pinch
sugar a pinch
pepper powder as reqd.

Grind them together in blender(Mixie) for few min. Check for salt. Very easy and tasty dip for fried seafood dishes.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Vijitha,
Tried this Calamari fry. This was fantastic with the tartar sauce. Better than what we get in Olive Garden. We both enjoyed. Keep Continuing your good work.
Thanks,
Purni Karthik