Although fried calamari isn’t really a Japanese dish, it is still a popular food that Japanese people love to eat. The actual Japanese part of the recipe is the wasabi mayo, which is a delicious dip that goes perfectly with the fried calamari.
The wasabi gives an edgy flavour to the mayonnaise and gives the fried calamari a real flavour kick! You can use the wasabi mayo in a bunch of other recipes like sushi rolls, sandwiches, and as dipping sauce for other kinds of foods like chicken skewers and fried prawns!
My grandparents live in a little fishing town in Japan where everyone knows each other so my grandma will give people some veggies from her vegetable garden and in return the fisherman often bring us a lot of fish and sometimes some amazing squid! So my grandma loves to use this squid to make sashimi because it’s so fresh and such amazing quality that she thinks it’s a waste to use it to make fried calamari. But she will use it to make calamari if we ask because she knows how much we love it.
Usually we eat it with a soy sauce and mayo dip (basically you just mix some soy sauce and mayo together) which tastes great with the calamari but to give it a little extra flavour, I decided to add some wasabi! Unfortunately, I don’t live in a little fishing town where people cutely trade veggies for fish so I had to buy my calamari from the local grocery store. You can also buy it from a seafood speciality store or a fish and chip shop if they sell fresh fish because it will probably be fresher and better quality than the grocery store calamari.
Fried calamari is a great dish to make for a gathering or party because you can make a big batch and put out a big dipping bowl of wasabi mayo or soy sauce mayo! It’s easy to make and doesn’t take a long time to make at all! I hope you enjoy the fried calamari with wasabi mayo!
Fried Calamari with Wasabi Mayo イカのリングフライ
Ingredients
Fried Calamari
- 2 squids
- 4 tbs plain flour
- 2 tbs water
- 1 tbs Japanese mayonnaise
- 2 cups Japanese Panko crumbs
- Cooking oil for deep frying
Wasabi mayo
- 3 tbs Japanese mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp powder Wasabi
- 1/2 tsp water
- 1 tbs milk
Instructions
- Cut the squid into rings and set aside.
- Make the batter by combining the flour, water and mayonnaise in a small bowl and mix them well.
- Add the squid rings into the bowl and coat with the batter then coat the squid rings with the panko crumbs one by one.
- Heat oil in a saucepan to 180 degrees.
- Deep fry the calamari until golden brown then set aside on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil.
- Make the wasabi mayonnaise by combing the wasabi powder with the water in a small bowl.
- Add the mayonaise and milk into the wasabi mixture and combine well.
- Serve the fried calamari with the wasabi mayo!
thanks, I never thought of adding wasabi to the maybe for use with squid…… suggestion, after cutting up the squid, add to full cream milk and allow to sit in the fridge for 48hours before using……… the reason for this is squid is acidic and the milk neutralised the squid, AND makes it super tender
Ohhhhhh Really? Thank you for the tips! I don’t like chewy squid. I will definitely do that next time and update the recipe. Thank you 😀
delicious appetizer!
yes! 😀