Prawn and Squid Fritters

The month of May is the squid season in Terengganu. My cousin, Effy is all excited to go on a trip this weekend to 'mencandat sotong'. That is what the activity to catch squids is called in Malay. I remember going on a similar trip to Langkawi with Effy's family years ago. We did not catch a single squid as the current was too strong. We enjoyed the quality time spent with family, though. So, good luck to Effy and her parents whom I call Chak and Pak Chaq. Enjoy the trip and come back with fresh squids!

I also remember the wonderful fried fresh squids we had at Pantai Batu Buruk in Terengganu in 1988. I had never experienced such exquisite taste of squids fried in batter before that.

As I had a lot of squids in the fridge, I thought I would try a new recipe using the English 'Fish and Chips' batter as a base.

 I prepared the  'Fish and Chips' batter substituting black pepper with 1 tablespoon of chilli paste and adding 1cm cuts of fresh chives ( daun kuchai).To make the batter taste better, I added 1cm of anchovy stock cube.
  (See batter recipe in previous post; labelled under seafood, dated 2/07/2009). I let the batter stand for one hour while I did other things.

Next I washed and skin some fresh prawns and squids. The head of the squid I return to the fridge as frying them would be hazardous. Frying squids too can be dangerous as the oil would tend to spit. So you have to be extra careful when frying squids.

After heating up some cooking oil, I mixed the prawns one at a time with the batter and fried them. The squids in batter were fried last as I was afraid of the 'spitting'.

I was not able to take the photographs of my new creation as the fritters were immediately served to my hungry loved one who could not wait a moment longer.

P.S: Forgot to inform that you dip the fritters in hot chilli sauce before you eat them.Yummy!