Calamares Mexicano

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For me, fried calamari is a fun food shared in a group of friends. Crunchy batter, a tasty dipping sauce and having conversation as we savor this appetizer.

Not finding a Mexican dipping sauce recipe for calamari to my liking I created this one. It’s made with ingredients common to the region of the Mayan peninsula. I hope you try making and liking it as I do. I think it’s unique and awesome. Great for other seafood dishes too.

My cousin Yoly, who lives in Merida and is a great cook, gave me the key to add additional and unique flavor to my sauce. She suggested adding Mezcal to my base recipe. It’s a very easy recipe, only four ingredients – annatto, orange and lime juice and MEZCAL. Not to worry, mezcal is optional and the alcohol is evaporated out of the sauce. If you don’t use mezcal, I suggest a touch of honey.

Note:

Annatto paste, the Yucatan condiment, includes spices, sometimes with chile which enhances the flavor. Annatto paste is very inexpensive and can be found in Mexican grocery stores and can be purchased on the internet.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

Dipping Sauce

1 oz annatto paste (30 grams)

1 cup orange juice

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon mezcal

Optional – if your annatto does not contain chile, add chile powder to your taste.

Calamari Fry

1 lb calamari (squid)

1 ½ cup all purpose flour,

⅓ cup cornstarch

½ teaspoon baking powder.

Preparation

Dipping Sauce

Using a food processor, blend all dipping ingredients to dissolve the paste into the juices. This takes about a minute or two. Pour the ingredients in a bowl. Place the bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds or until the paste thickens. It thickens because annatto paste includes corn flour. If it’s too thick, add water to thin it out.

Calamari Fry

Slice calamari into rings
Cut the cleaned tubes into ¾-inch thick rings.

Soak in salted milk
In a medium bowl, stir 1 teaspoon of kosher salt in ½ cup of milk. Add the squid rings and toss. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Drain and discard milk solution.

Dredge
Prepare a flour mixture by whisking together 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, ⅓ cup cornstarch, ½ teaspoon baking powder. Toss a few calamari rings in the flour mixture until well-coated, then transfer them to a colander. Repeat until all the calamari is coated in the flour mixture. Shake the colander to remove excess flour.

Fry and Drain
Prepare a tray and put a wire rack covered with paper towel on top. Set your oven heated on the lowest setting, you can place the cooked calamari in it to keep them nice and warm.

Fill a small 2.5-quart saucepan with 4 inches of vegetalble oil and heat the oil to somewhere between 350 and 365 degrees F. Drop one calamari ring, if the oil bubbles and forms around it and the calamari floats, the oil is ready. You can now cook the squid rings in batches (about 8 at a time) for 3 minutes or until golden brown. To ensure your oil temperature is hot for subsequent batches drop one calamari ring, many bubbles will form around it and the calamari will begin to float. As the calamari cook, use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked crispy rings to the prepared wire rack.