Fried Squid in Batter
Getting together with friends for a beer? Pistachios, chips, garlic croutons — trivial, and you’re probably tired of them. Try making fried squid in batter instead. It’s a wonderfully tasty appetizer that is just as good eaten on its own.
The squid (Teuthida) is a typical ocean dweller, found even in the coldest waters of the world’s oceans. It’s a mollusk with 10 limbs growing out of its head. It is usually 20-30 cm long, though sometimes up to half a meter.
There are also giants of up to 20 meters (!). Rumors of giant killer squid have circulated throughout history. They were called the “kraken”, and the stories were told mostly by Icelandic sailors. National maritime folklore, so to speak. The kraken was said to be able to seize a ship with its tentacles and drag it under. It was often drawn in the margins of old sea charts.
Squid in batter fries very quickly. The appetizer won’t take much time if you buy not whole squid tubes, which take some work, but the ready-to-fry “rings”, already cleaned and sliced. Squid rings suit any dish, and they make it easy to prepare squid pizza, all kinds of warm salads, or squid with rice.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Squid rings 300 g
- Egg 1
- Dry white table wine 50 ml
- Wheat flour about 4 tbsp for the batter, plus a little for dredging
(39 g) - Lemon 1 tsp juice for the batter, plus half a lemon for serving
- Salt, black pepper to taste
- Odorless vegetable oil for deep-frying
- Garlic sauce optional, for serving
Step-by-step recipe
Preparing the squid
Ready-made squid rings (cleaned and sliced) only need to be thawed and patted dry with a paper towel. The batter will slide off wet rings.
If you do decide to work with raw tubes, choose smaller squid. They are usually sold frozen, 15-20 cm long, which is just right. Only the body of the squid is used for this appetizer. The tentacles and the tail are not used. Cleaning the tubes is probably the most tedious part of the cooking.
Under cold running water, separate the body from the head. Inside the tube there is a hard “chord”, or “gladius”, a stiff rod that is the vestige of a shell. Discard the head, the innards, and the gladius.
Rinse the tube thoroughly and turn it inside out.
Pour boiling water over the squid tubes for 3-4 minutes, cool them in cold water, and peel off the dark outer skin by hand.
Cut the tubes with a knife into rings no wider than 1 cm. 7-8 mm is best.
Batter
The batter is a thin dough that the squid rings are dipped into before frying. It is similar to the one used for fish in batter.
Beat the egg with a fork, add salt and pepper. Then pour in the wine, continuing to beat with the fork until smooth.
Add ordinary wheat flour in small portions and keep stirring the batter with the fork, trying not to let lumps form. You should get a fairly thick dough, like good honey, almost creamy, just as for the fish in batter recipe.
Add 1 tsp lemon juice to the batter. It makes the batter taste great.
Important: The batter must be thick and sticky, otherwise it will simply run off and the squid in batter won’t work.
Frying
A deep fryer is great. Otherwise use a small, deep saucepan. I recommend avoiding strongly scented oil, such as olive oil or unrefined sunflower oil.
Heat the vegetable oil in the saucepan over high heat and let it warm for 1-2 minutes, until a light white smoke appears. Once the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium.
Dredge the squid rings in flour and dip them one at a time into the batter with a fork. Be sure to let the excess batter drip off.
Lay the squid in the hot oil in small batches so that the rings float freely and don’t stick together.
Fry the squid in batter until a nice golden crust forms, about 2-3 minutes. If the squid isn’t fully submerged in the oil, turn it with a fork and fry the other side.
Squid, like any seafood, cooks in a few minutes, so whatever the frying time of the batter, the squid is guaranteed to be done.
Put the finished squid on a paper napkin to drain and absorb the excess fat. Batter, like any dough, soaks up hot oil like a sponge.
Serving
Put the squid in batter on a plate and add half a lemon or garlic sauce.
Serve the squid in batter warm, neither hot nor cold.
Calories and macros
245 kcal
Serving ≈ 220 g
- Protein29 g49% of kcal
- Fat5 g18% of kcal
- Carbs20 g34% of kcal
100 g113 kcalProtein 13 gFat 2.1 gCarbs 9 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.
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