Ika (Squid) Tempura

This is my first entry for March, almost a full week into the month!  I’ve been meaning to post entries but I’ve been playing the role of Dr. Mom the past few days so…

Hubby and my little girl love squid.  During one of our trips to a Japanese store last month,  my eyes zeroed in on packs of pre-sliced squids (not rings!).  I thought I that was my cue to make them something they’ll really like…Ika (Squid) Tempura.

Guess what, they loved it!  I’ve got some pretty predictable eaters here, I tell you!  And they are such a joy to feed.  Hee hee. ;)  Trading in cad drawings for a life as a domestic goddess is truly worth it.

As always, I turned to my favorite Japanese recipe book for the recipe…

INGREDIENTS:

squid (pre-cut ones or squid rings)

Note: You may, of course, use prawns or vegetables!

TEMPURA BATTER:

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups iced water

2 cups sifted all purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Break eggs into a well-chilled bowl then add iced water.

2.  Add sifted flour.

3.  Make lumpy batter.  DO NOT MIX WELL. Loosely fold with chopsticks.  Batter should be a  mixture of dry flour.

4.  Pat the squid dry.  Coat with lumpy batter then slide into hot oil and deep-fry until golden brown, turning once or twice for even cooking.

5.  Drain excess oil on paper-lined plate or tray after deep frying.

6.  Sprinkle salt and pepper if desired.

I wondered at first why there’s no salt and pepper in the batter or why the squid wasn’t sprinkled with salt.  I learned just recently from one of my other recipe books that adding salt to squid makes them tough.  During a calamari recipe search, one thing all the recipes I found had in common is that the salt and pepper are added only after the batter-dipped squid has been fried.  It’s true what they say, we learn something new everyday. ;)

Instead of traditional tempura dipping sauce, I made two mayo dips: Spicy Mayo and Garlic Mayo.

Y’all have a great weekend!

*This is an entry for Lasang Pinoy, Sundays.  This week’s theme is “Seafood”.”