Salt & Pepper Squid

Ingredients

• 85g cornflour
• 85g plain flour
• 2 tsp black pepper, cracked
• 2 tbsp ground Szechuan peppercorns, roughly crushed
• sunflower or vegetable oil, for frying
• 400g squid, cleaned and cut into strips (see tips, below)
• finely sliced spring onion and green chilli, to serve
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• half cucumber, finely diced
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 100ml rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp fish sauce

Preparation

Serves 4 as a starter or as a main alongside other dishes

1. To make the dipping sauce, mix all the ingredients in a small bowl until the sugar has dissolved, then set aside. Mix the cornflour and plain flour with both peppers and 2 tsp sea salt in a large bowl, then set aside. Line a tray with kitchen paper and make sure you have more salt to sprinkle with.
2. Heat about 7cm of oil to 180C in a deep fryer, wok or deep pan. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can test it with a cube of bread – it should brown in 20 secs. Coat the squid well with the flour mix and fry in batches for about 2 mins each or until crisp. Use a slotted spoon to lift out the squid, then drain on the kitchen paper and sprinkle with a little more salt. Serve the squid scattered with the spring onion and chilli, with the dipping sauce on the side.