Squid Nibbels with Five Spice
Quick healthy snack to go with a cool glass of wine
I adore the clean flavour of squid! I do not mean these awful breaded deep-fried rings that you have to drench in aioli to disguise the taste of grease. I mean those succulent morsels of delicate fresh squid that need no more than a little drizzle of lemon. Heaven.
For this (slightly adapted) Donna Hay dish the squid is coated in a super easy, super fast light batter. It has a hint of five spice and chili to add an extra dimension of flavour.
Lately I have been eating this quick squid dish as a main meal. But I discovered it as a fabulously healthy snack to have with a glass of chilled wine.
And do not make the same mistake I did: after spotting this dish it took me ages to make it. I had never used rice flour and did not want to buy a whole bag full just to have the 2 tbsp this dish requires. But believe me you will be making this dish again (and you can always use your rice flour to make salmon burgers).
Ingredients
(adapted from Donna Hay’s Salt and Pepper Squid from ‘Instant Entertaining’)
3 tbsp (brown) rice flour *
1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
¼ tsp salt
ground chilli flakes
1 egg white
12 small squids
1 tbsp oil
lemon or lime wedges
Recipe
- If your fishmonger has not done this yet, clean the squid.
- Slice the squid into wide rings (alternatively quarter and score inside in a diamond pattern).
- Mix rice flour, five spice, salt and chili on a plate.
- In another deep plate whisk egg white slightly.
- Heat oil in a frying pan.
- Place the squid rings in the egg white.
- Then (if necessary in batches) hustle the squid rings in the spice mix and fry briefly until golden.
Serve with
Just as a snack
- some lime or lemon wedges
- tofunaise
As dinner
- quinoa cakes and some stir fried purslane (NL: postelein, DE: portulak)
Tips & Variations
* You can buy regular rice flour at Asian stores but I prefer using brown rice flour from the organic food shop (store it in an airtight container in the fridge to stop it from going rancid).
Dinner in a wink
afra cooking 
Almost like eating some onion rings. This sounds delicious!
I never looked at them like that, but you are right Liz! They really are like a healthy alternative for Onion Rings 🙂