Servings: 4 · Prep Time: 15 mins · Cooking Time: 5 mins
Total Time: 20 mins
Keto | Salads & Starters
Deep fried no longer means unhealthy food. This technique works just as well to batter all sorts of foods; especially delicious with shrimps and homemade fish fingers. But for me, my absolute favourite is calamari. It looks and tastes like what you find in expensive restaurants, but without all that highly processed flour and chemically extracted seed oils.
Ingredients
- Squid (2 whole)
- Egg
- Coconut Flour (1 cup)
- Baking Powder (1/4 tsp)
- Coconut Flakes (2 tbsp)
- Dried Onion Flakes (4 tbsp)
- Black Pepper (1 tsp)
- Paprika (1 tsp)
- Spinach (2 cups)
- Chilli Sauce (drizzle)
Method
My technique is to clean then cut the squid into 1cm hoops. Then dry them with a paper tissue. Next roll them in coconut flour. Not only does this add flavour it also dries them out. If you don't do this, as soon as the squid hits the heat of the frying pan it creates a steam which causes the coating to fall off. If you have time, allow the coated squid time to dry out further by placing them on a rack.
When you are ready, whisk up 2 eggs and dip in your squid. The egg effectively is going to be your glue. Then roll the squid in whatever you would like to coat them in. In the photo is I used mashed up coconut and dried onion flakes, but you could use other things such as fibre flour, herbs or seeds.
You don't need a deep fat frier. Simply add olive oil or coconut oil to your saucepan, about 2cm will be enough and then cook the squid for about a minute, then turn over and cook the other side. Be sure not to over crowd the pan.
Tip. Add a small amount of paprika to the batter. If you use say half a tablespoon, you won't taste it, but it add great colour.
Tip: add a 1/4 tsp of baking powder in the batter mix. This helps speed up the browning process.
Tip: Don't get the oil too hot as it will burn the coating without cooking the fish.
I serve with either sweet chilli sauce or sriracha and place on a bed of spinach.