Got inspired by another Jamie Oliver’s recipe, I tempted myself to make one of his seafood platter that I thought I might like to eat for summer dinner. You can see the original recipe on this link, as I changed some ingredients that likely I found in the nearest grocery store.
Ingredients:
- sunflower oil , for deep-frying
- fresh calamary rings
- shrimps , shell off and butterflied
- 100 g plain flour , plus extra for dusting
- sea salt
- chilli powder
- red pepper powder
- freshly ground black pepper
- a few sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 lemon , cut into wedges
- 2 large potatoes
For the sauce (makes 500ml):
- 20 fresh red chillies
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 cup caster sugar
- malt vinegar
Method:
Prepare the sweet chilli sauce
- Finely chop the chillies, I prefer not to have the seeds with.
- Finely chop the garlic
- Put the sugar and one cup of cold water in a medium saucepan over a high heat. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the chillies, garlic, a pinch of salt and some splash of malt vinegar. Then cook over a low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. You can whiz the sauce with plunging blender to have smoother texture.
- Set aside.
Prepare spicy chips
- Cut the potatoes into chips
- Place a deep-fat fryer over a medium-high heat. Fill it with three-quarters full with sunflower oil and leave it to heat up.
- Fried the chips until it turns golden. Transfer the potatoes into double layer kitchen paper to drain the fat.
- Place the fried chips into a large Tupperware, drizzled with some salt, chilli powder and pepper powder, then shake it and set aside.
Prepare the crispy calamary and shrimp
- Wash the calamaries and shrimps, place it in a large bowl. Finely grate over the zest of the lemons and squeeze over most of the juice, then toss to coat.
- Place the flour and a good pinch of salt, black pepper, chilli powder and pepper powder into a large bowl, then add the calamary and shrimp and toss to coat. Mix it well.
- Carefully lower the calamary and shrimp into the hot oil and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, or until golden and crisp on the outside and cooked through.
- When the last batch of seafood is almost done, squeeze a little lemon juice over the parsley sprigs, then dip into the flour and lower into the oil for a few seconds – be careful as it’ll spit.
- Serve the crispy calamary and shrimp straight away, with crispy spiked parsley, lemon wedges for squeezing over and the sweet chilli sauce on the side for dipping.
