Calamari with Vietnamese chilli sauce

Method

1. For the Vietnamese chilli sauce:

2. Place the caster sugar and water in a small pot on a medium-high heat and bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar.

3. Once this comes to the boil, add the fish sauce and remove from the heat. Stir well and finally add the garlic, chilli, lime juice and vinegar.

4. Taste and adjust seasoning; this sauce may require another squeeze of citrus depending on how juicy your limes are. Allow to cool before serving.

5. For the herb salad:

6. Pick the herbs and place in a small bowl with the sliced shallot and chilli. Dress and toss with lime juice just before serving.

7. To prepare the squid:

8. Peel away the outer membrane on the tentacles.

9. Trim the longer feeding tentacles to the same length as the other tentacles.

10. Cut the mantle of the squid into 1cm thick rings and place in a colander.

11. Rinse to remove any lingering innards, drain well.

12. To cook the squid:

13. Preheat a deep fryer to 190°C.

14. Combine the rice flour, potato starch, cornflour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix well.

15. Toss the sliced squid rings and tentacles through the flour dredge and shake off the excess. Do so, working in batches, making sure all the surface area of the squid is covered.

16. Fry the squid in batches so as not to overcrowd the fryer, which will reduce the temperature of the oil.

17. Fry for 1 minute before draining on kitchen paper and seasoning with sea salt.

18. Serve with the dressed herb salad and chilli sauce immediately.