The cuoppo is a classic Neapolitan street food : it is a paper cone filled with mixed fried food. In this recipe for fried rice without batter , "Delizie&Confidenze" offers a tasty and easy to prepare seafood and land cuoppo. Calamari and onions will have a light and crunchy crust thanks to Ruggeri Rice Flour , ideal for sweet recipes but also tempura and various fried foods.
Ingredients
- 800 g of fresh squid
- 2 red Tropea onions
- 150 g of Ruggeri Rice Flour
- 1 liter of peanut oil
- salt to taste
- lemon
Preparation of fried rice
- Clean the squid: remove the entrails, leaving the squid whole, then remove the skin and the tooth located in the head, just below the eyes. Rinse them thoroughly and dry them with a sheet of absorbent paper, then cut the body into rounds about half a centimeter thick, and cut the tentacles in half.
- Clean the onions: peel the onions, wash them, pat them dry, and cut them widthwise into slices about 3 mm thick. Divide the slices into rings.
- Then, prepare the fried food with rice flour. Pour the rice flour into a bowl. Add the calamari and mix them thoroughly with your hands, so as to flour them evenly. Then transfer them to a colander to remove the excess flour.
- In a pan (or fryer) heat plenty of peanut oil. When the oil reaches temperature, gently throw in the calamari, a few at a time, so as not to lower the temperature of the oil too much.
- Fry for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and let them dry on a sheet of absorbent paper to eliminate excess oil.
- Repeat the same operations with the onion rings.
- Salt and distribute the fried rice in the cuoppi. Serve hot with a lemon wedge.
Notes
- To avoid the calamari becoming rubbery or too hard after frying, cut them into rings that are not too large and do not fry them for too long: the crust, in fact, must have a light golden color.
- If you use onions other than those indicated in the recipe, you will have rings with a “spicy” note, typical of the vegetable. For more delicate onion rings, before flouring them, leave them immersed in a bowl with milk, so as to eliminate the “spicy” part. I opted for red onions from Tropea because they have a sweeter flavor.
- For even crispier fried rings, instead of flouring them you can opt for a batter made with cold water and flour (for a simple batter), with the addition of egg (for a thicker batter), or with beer instead of water (for that extra touch of flavor).
- To ensure that the fried food remains crispy for as long as possible, add salt at the last moment, just before serving.
- Use plenty of oil, because if you fry by immersion, the oil absorbs less oil and the cooking will be more uniform.
- Peanut oil is the most suitable for frying, since it has a much higher smoke point than other seed oils and, therefore, there is no risk of burning the fried food.
- The ideal temperature for frying is 180°. If you have a kitchen thermometer, checking the temperature of the oil will be very simple. Alternatively, you can use a toothpick: if bubbles form when you dip it into the oil, the oil is at temperature.
- It is preferable to use a high-sided iron pan for frying, because it distributes the heat evenly and quickly.
Recipe by Delizie&Confidenze
