It’s universally loved and you can buy it in just about any pub, Vietnamese, Thai or Chinese restaurant, or Italian café around the country. On top of that, it’s not commonly found in any other country. It is a truly home grown favourite.
Serves 4
Prep 10 minutes
Cook 5 minutes
INGREDIENTS
About 2 litres vegetable oil, for deep-frying
500g squid tubes, cleaned
3 tbsp rice flour or cornflour
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 bird’s-eye chilli, sliced
2 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
1 tsp salt flakes
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Coriander leaves and lemon wedges, to serve
METHOD
1 Heat the oil to 200°C in a wok or large saucepan. Cut down one side of the squid tubes and open them flat.
2 Lightly score the surface in a cross-hatch pattern, cut into bite-sized triangles and toss in the flour.
3 Shake off any excess flour and deep-fry the squid in batches for about a minute per batch, or until just cooked and lightly golden. Drain well.
4 Remove the oil, leaving about a tablespoon in the wok. Heat the wok over medium heat and add the garlic, chilli and spring onion. Toss in the wok for about a minute, or until the ingredients are lightly browned.
5 Add the squid and toss constantly, scattering with the salt and pepper.
6 Remove the squid from the wok, scatter with coriander leaves and serve with lemon wedges.
TIP / You can use the same mix of salt, pepper, garlic, chilli and spring onion to season fried chicken prepared as for Yurinchi, or prawns dusted with cornflour and shallow-fried.
The Carousel thanks Adam Liaw for this recipe from his book Adam’s Big Pot.
