sotong celup tepung

i love eating deep fry battered squid (sotong celup tepung). too bad, sometimes, some restaurants cheat their customers by putting too much of baking powder in the dip batter with only a tiny strip of squid flesh. so, the result, we will eat an almost-empty-fried-flour-shell. i made this dish quite often at home. too many experiments. sometimes, the flour covered would get soggy and not crispy, sometimes, the squid turns out very hard and endless lists of defects. so, lately, i am using tempura flour as alternative to those batter i used before and it turned out great! but, i usually blanch the squid first to fasten the frying process and to avoid from frying oil popping up when squid releases its water. one tips, when mixing the batter, use with iced water, so, the batter will come out crispy and crunchy. and, use vegetable oil when frying to get nice colour and aroma, but it is optional anyway.