145 grams cleaned squid tentacles
80 grams cleaned squid bodies
5 grams squid ink
260 grams tapioca flour
1.5 liters Canola oil for frying
Puree the squid tentacles, bodies and ink in a food processor until it reaches a smooth paste. Add the tapioca flour and pulse the mixture to evenly combine the tapioca into the squid paste. Turn the machine on and puree the mixture to form a sticky dough. Divide the dough between two large vacuum bags and seal on high pressure. Use a rolling pin to spread the dough to inside edges of the bag so that a uniform thickness is achieved. The dough should be about two millimeters thick. Place both bags in a steamer large enough to hold them and gently steam the dough for twenty-five minutes. After twenty-five minutes, remove the bags and cut them open. Carefully pull the dough out of the bags and lay it on dehydrator trays. Dehydrate the sheets for several hours until the dough is completely dry and brittle. The dough will take on a shiny matte appearance and be easily broken into pieces. When the dough is dry, remove it from the dehydrator and break the sheet into pieces roughly 4cm wide and 8cm long. This recipe makes more calamari crackers then are needed for the dish. The dried cracker base may be reserved in its dry form in a zip top bag for several weeks.
Heat a pot of canola oil to 177ºC. Slide the crackers two at a time into the oil. The cracker will sink to the bottom of the oil and then begin to puff and expand. Fry the crackling until it is completely puffed and there are no dark spots of unexpanded cracker dough. Remove the puffed cracklings from the oil and drain on a paper towel lined tray. Sprinkle with salt while still hot from the fryer.