When I posted my last tripe recipe on Instagram, one of my best friends thought it was calamari. That made me laugh for a second then I thought, why not?

So I decided to cook my tripe the way I cook squid. I believe this could be served in a restaurant as a posh starter. What you get is a lovely crispy but yet tender piece of meat that goes well with a garlic mayo dip or soy sauce.

Crispy Tripe

Ingredients:

500g of tripe (shaki), cleaned, cut into flat rectangular short stripes

4 tbs of plain flour

2 tbs of semolina

2 tsp of suya pepper powder (you can use just chilli power and any additional spice you want)

salt to taste

vegetable oil for deep frying

For the dips: 3 tbs of mayonnaise, a tsp of lemon juice and a tsp of minced garlic, 3 tbs of soy sauce and a tbs of sesame seed oil

Method:

Mix the flour, semolina, suya pepper and salt together in a bowl that can also contain the tripe and keep aside.

Boil the tripe pieces in salted water until very soft and tender (a pressure cooker can also be used as well). Drain and pat dry. Toss the boiled tripe pieces in the bowl containing the flour mixture. Sprinkle some water to allow the the flour to stick to the meat if it is too dry. Don’t over do it though.

Heat the oil and when very hot, fry the coated tripe pieces until they are crispy and brown. Place them on a kitchen towel to soak up the excess oil before serving.

For the mayo dip, mix the mayonnaise with the garlic and add the lemon juice. Mix the sesame seed oil and soy sauce for another type of dip.

Enjoy!