Japanese Calamari with Sweet Chilli Mayo

These calamaris are a fantastic drinks canape for the party season. The slow baking of the calamari makes the squid really tender, avoiding the normally rubbery texture of over cooked calamari which is deep fried, a bonus then that this method of cooking calamari is way lighter on calories.Whoop!!!

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 3 Squid pockets (frozen is fine and defrost overnight in the fridge)
• Panko Japanese Breadcrumbs (pulse 4 slices of toast if you can't get panko breadcrumbs)
• 1 cup of cornflour
• salt/pepper
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 egg, beaten

Sweet Chilli Mayo

• 1/2 cup good quality mayo
• 2 tbsp of sweet chili sauce
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt/pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and prepare a baking tray lined with parchment paper, sprayed with low fat cooking spray 
2. Cut the squid pocket into rings
3. Combine the cumin powder, salt and pepper to the flour and put in shallow bowl
4. break up the egg and put in another shallow bowl
5. Put the panko breadcrumbs in yet a another bowl
6. Dip the squid rings one at a time into the flour mixture, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs and place them in single layer on baking tray.
7. Baked for 18-20 minutes
8. For the mayo, combine the mayo, lemon juice, salt and pepper and sweet chilli sauce. Transfer to a clean bowl for serving.
9. Place the rings in a bowl along side the spicy mayo and dig in. I guarantee you will be left wanting more!