Filipino Calamares Recipe ( Fried Squid Rings)
Calamari, simply speaking, is just a fancier name for Fried Squid Rings. Known as Calamares in the Philippines, this has been a familiar sight in restaurants as an appetizer and also as known street food.
There has actually been a boom in calamari a few years back as you have street food peddlers actually just selling calamares instead of their usual fare.
This easy-to-follow Calamares recipe is sure to help you in whipping this wonderful dish up.
You would need squid rings for this Calamares recipe. You could either use pre-cut squid rings in the market or buy entire squids and just cut it up into rings. Another easy option is to use frozen squid rings and just deep fry them.
If you cut the squid into rings yourself though, be sure that you are able to wash off all of its ink and cut off all the unnecessary parts.
To make the squid rings have a soft texture inside even after frying them, you can put the squid rings into a large bowl and pour buttermilk into it.
If buttermilk is not readily available, you can substitute it with either just plain yogurt alone or regular evaporated milk mixed with squeezed lemon juice.
After pouring buttermilk or its substitute on the squid rings, refrigerate it for 30 minutes to an hour.
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Calamares Recipe Preparation and Tips
- While the squid rings are in the refrigerator, you can already prepare the flour mixture that you will use for the calamari.
- In a separate bowl, pour in flour, salt, and pepper, paprika (if you want it to have more kick, but this one is optional), and garlic powder and mix it together.
- Then once the squid rings are already chilled, dunk these rings onto the flour mixture, making sure that all rings are evenly and generously covered with it.
- Heat the pan, add oil and drop the calamari rings onto it, doing it in batches in case your pan will not allow everything to be fried at once.
- Strain the fried calamari and put it on a large plate. As for the last part of this calamari recipe, in making the dip, you can either choose from the store-bought ranch, caesar, or ketchup dips. Alternatively, you could go local and just make a mixture of vinegar, salt, pepper, and chopped red onions. Want to make it more Asian-flavor-inspired? Add some soy sauce into the mix.
Now let’s get on to the recipe:
Filipino Calamares Recipe ( Fried Squid Rings)
Ingredients
- 500 grams Frozen Calamari/Squid Rings or Fresh Calamari
- ¾ cup flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 medium eggs beaten
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or paprika
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Defrost the bag of frozen squid/calamari rings in cold water. Or prep your fresh squid by washing it.
- Before the squid is completely defrosted, remove it from water and strain well in a colander.
- Grab a bowl and combine your eggs (beaten), fish sauce, and calamari, and let it marinate for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Grab another bowl and combine the flour, cornstarch, pepper, salt, and paprika or cayenne pepper.
- Take each coated squid ring and place it into the flour bowl and coat it thoroughly.
- In a large frying pan, heat up your oil and place your squid rings in there. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until slightly brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Additional Cooking Tips
Did you know that the secret to chewy yet not rubbery squid is to cook at medium heat? That’s right, the oil temperature really does make a difference. The secret lies in frying the calamares at medium heat – so, the oil should be hot and bubbly but not hot enough to burn the food. If the oil is too cold, it makes the squid soggy and the batter will taste undercooked.
Therefore, I recommend you cook each ring for approximately 2 minutes, maybe even less depending on how thick the rings are.
Also, if you want a fluffier batter, you can always add in a splash of milk while beating the eggs. For a more sour flavor, add in a hint of lemon juice too!
I recommend using cayenne pepper in the batter, but if you don’t like spicy food, you can use smoked paprika as an alternative.
Panko: some Filipino calamares recipes use Panko (breadcrumbs) to coat the squid. If you like the extra texture of panko, you can add 1/2 a cup to your flour mixture. Or, coat the squid in the egg mixture, then flour, then dip back into the egg, and finally coat with panko.
When you use panko, the calamari rings are a tad bit crunchier as they have a breaded texture and taste, but it’s also an addition of extra calories and fat. So, it all depends if you really enjoy the breaded texture or not.
Or learn how to substitute Panko with these ingredients you probably have
Do you want more Pusit / Squid recipes? Try this Adobong Pusit Recipe now.
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Joost Nusselder, the founder of Bite My Bun is a content marketer, dad and loves trying out new food with Japanese food at the heart of his passion, and together with his team he's been creating in-depth blog articles since 2016 to help loyal readers with recipes and cooking tips.
