Ah…Crispy Butter Cereal Squid aka ‘Sotong’. Be it at Chinese seafood restaurants or Cze Char stalls (local Singaporean lingo literally translated as cook & fry), this is one dish we will always order from the menu. Instead of squid, prawns are usually the star protein.
My princess is a huge fan of this dish and she has become quite the cereal prawn connoisseur. What constitute to a plate of tasty cereal prawns? According to her, they must be piled with a mountain high of cereal. There should absolutely be no stinging. I guess that makes sense.
Some recipes suggest using oatmeal, 3-in-1 cereal pre-mix, etc but if you are looking for true restaurant quality/Cze Char taste of this dish, it is essential to use Nestum Cereal Original flavor. I grew up eating it over breakfast so I happily bought a family size tin. As for the milk powder, I bought mine from Sun Lik Trading but if you have young infants or toddlers who are still drinking formula milk, those could work too. 
Ingredients:
2 large squid (approx. 400 g) – clean and cut into bite size
½ tsp salt
1 egg
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp corn flour
Dash of white pepper
Oil for deep frying
Crispy Cereal Mix:
Curry leaves – about 20 leaves
1 red chili or chili padi – sliced
3 tbsp (36 g) unsalted butter
1 egg yolk – lightly beaten
1 cup Nestum Cereal (original)
1 tbsp milk powder
1 tsp chicken powder (I’m using Knorr brand)
1 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
Serves 3 – 4
Recipe source: ieatishootipost
The line up.
Curry leaves – you could find them easily in supermarkets or Asian grocer stores.
Clean and cut the squid into 1/2 inch sized rings.
Add all the ingredients for the cereal mix together first.
In a bowl, mix the egg, salt, pepper, two types flour with the squid and let it marinade for 10 mins.
In a wok or deep pan, heat up some oil (approx. 2 cups) to smoking point. You’ll need the oil to be really hot. Gently add the squid to avoid splatter. Deep fry for 2 mins until golden brown. Drain and set aside.
An old school way to test the heat of the oil – stick a chopstick in the middle of the pan. If it is bubbling, the oil is ready. 🙂
Cook them for no more than 2 mins or they’ll become rubbery.
Done!
Remove the oil from the wok and melt the butter. Add in the curry leaves, chili and fry for 30 seconds.
Drizzle the egg yolk into the wok and keep stirring constantly so the egg yolk will become thin strands.
It will look like a bubbling mess and that is very okay.
Add in the rest of the ingredients for the cereal mix and cook under medium heat until light golden brown. It should take less than 1 minute. Be careful not to burn the cereal.
Turn off heat and add in squid. Mix well and serve.
Please excuse me for the blur shot. 🙁
- 2 large squid (approx. 400 g) – clean and cut into bite size
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp corn flour
- Dash of white pepper
- Oil for deep frying
- Crispy Cereal Mix:
- Curry leaves – about 20 leaves
- 1 red chilli or chilli padi – sliced
- 3 tbsp (36 g) unsalted butter
- 1 egg yolk – lightly beaten
- 1 cup Nestum Cereal (original)
- 1 tbsp milk powder
- 1 tsp chicken powder (I'm using Knorr brand)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- In a bowl, mix the egg, salt, pepper, two types flour with the squid and let it marinade for 10 mins.
- In a wok or deep pan, heat up some oil (approx. 2 cups) to smoking point. You’ll need the oil to be really hot. Gently add the squid to avoid splatter. Deep fry for 2 mins until golden brown. Drain and set aside.
- Remove the oil from the wok and melt the butter. Add in the curry leaves, chilli and fry for 30 seconds.
- Drizzle the egg yolk into the wok and keep stirring constantly so the egg yolk will become thin strands.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients for the cereal mix and cook under medium heat until light golden brown. It should take less than 1 minute. Be careful not to burn the cereal.
- Turn off heat and add in squid. Mix well and serve.
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