Breaded squid balls.

I had quite a lot of squid and pork mix left over from making stuffed squid. As a general rule, I would turn pork mince into meatballs; fish into breaded fishcakes. Pork and squid? Breaded squid balls.

Thanks to an online supermarket delivery substitution, I had a whole tin of bright orange Paxo breadcrumbs in the cupboard. I had deemed these insufficiently sophisticated for Scotch Eggs back in July, but decided this was the perfect opportunity to use them.

After tasting the cooked stuffed squid I knew the mixture needed more salt, which I added along with an egg and rice vermicelli to help bind everything together.

I shaped a test patty and gave it a thorough coating in the breadcrumbs. I then shallow-fried it for about five minutes, turning half way through, and drained it on kitchen paper.

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Tasting, I realised I had gone too far the other way with the salt, so added some more chilli and a lot of lime juice to the mix in an attempt to balance the flavour. I then shaped and fried the rest of the mixture.

The chilli and lime had gone some way toward tempering the saltiness of the squid balls, but then I do like salty food. When assembling a packed lunch for myself and a friend, I therefore left the rice unseasoned and added more piquancy in the form of spring onions, mint, lime, sweet and sour sauce and homegrown tomatoes. As a whole meal, this worked well.

I would never make these for their own sake: the ratio of effort to effect is the polar opposite of my beloved pavolvas. However as a byproduct of making the stuffed squid, the squid balls were a tasty and efficient method of using up the leftover mixture.