I have made fried calamari bad a million times but I finally got it right.

The Crisco gives the calamari flavor and the corn starch makes it crispy.

I added the garlic because I put garlic in almost everything,

One one pound bag of frozen cleaned calamari rings

One cup os corn starch

One teaspoon salt

One teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 lemon

hot sauce

5 big tablespoons Crisco

Defrost the calamari and pat it dry with a paper towel.

Mix the corn starch, salt, pepper and garlic powder together in a bag.

Add the calamari rings and shake the bag  till all the rings have a light coating on them.

Heat the Crisco in a small frying pan till it has melted and hot on medium high heat.

Place the calamari in the pan and do not let it touch so you have to work in batches.

Let the calamari fry till you see it brown on the underside and then flip over till the entire ring is golden brown.

Place on a paper towel to drain the excess oil.

Continue till all the rings are fried.

They are so crispy.

I just squeezed some lemon on mine but you can add a hot pepper relish and toss it with the calamari.

I also like it with fried onions.

Any dipping sauce is great from a tomato sauce to a chili sauce.

I seasoned the oil with a habanero pepper and it was way too hot but a milder pepper would be okay. Just mix the pepper with the cornstarch and fry it with the calamari if you like it spicy.

Published by cmangoff

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