Beer batter ot beer batterred is common dish preparation to fish, squid and any seafoods. From a street vendor’s fish and chips to a fancy batterred sliced abalone. Beer is a popular ingredient in batters used to coat foods before frying. One reason is that a basic batter can be made from merely flour, beer, and some salt. The purpose of using beer is so the CO2 bubbles in the beer will add body and lightness to the batter. Depending on the type and quality of the beer, beer may also add colour or some flavour to the batter. The practice of beer battering is popular in western cuisine. Intead using only beer, i used to add some rice wine to the batter to to give a little sweet hint. Besides, you can use a soda water too to replace the alcoholic beverages, but the texture of the batter would be firmer and not as light as using the beer.
Just make sure you use a very cold or nearly frozen beer to get a potent gasses. Mix all dry ingredient and heat up the oil for deep frying before pouring the beer. I love to add a pinch of curry powder to the dish for flavour and aromas. To serve the calamari, i made a mint and chilli mayonaise to make a spicy, creamy and yet a refreshing burst.
Ingredients:
Deep Fried Calamari/ Squid Ring Recipe :
- 500 gr fresh squid bodies
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour for dipping the squid before batterred
Beer Batter Recipe:
- 1/2 can VERY COLD beer
- 1 egg white
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup rice flour
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
Mint-Chilli Mayonnaise Recipe:
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 clove garlic, peeled, finely chopped
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon chopped deseeded chillies
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients and refrigerate ntil serve !
Instruction :
- Peel off the squid skin then throughly rinse and clean squid; pat dry
- Cut into 1/4-inch rings, season with salt, garlic powder and lime juice, marinade 30 minutes in the fridge
- Put all dry batter ingredients in a glass bowl, stir occationally, meanwhile, heat up the oil for deep frying
- If the oil ir ready for deep frying, slowly add beer and egg white, stirring gently until batter is smooth.
- In shallow bowl, place remaining 1/2 cup flour. Dip squid rings in flour, shaking off excess
- Coat the squid ring completely with beer batter.
- Fry squid in batches in hot oil until deep golden brown, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
- Serve with mint-chilli mayo