sweet and spicy calamari salad with crispy wonton

My sister lives in Big Island, Hawaii (which is our favorite place on earth so far!) and there's an awesome Japanese-fusion restaurant called Sansei seafood & sushi restaurant. My sister gave us Sansei cookbook for Christmas last year and we love it! This salad is my favorite dish from the restaurant. We made it few times and we tweaked the recipe a bit.

(More pictures to come)

Ingredients:

[Calamari]

Squid - 1 (big) or 4 (small) - see TIPS for squid options
Salt & Pepper
Flour - 1 cup

[Sweet and spicy sauce]

Kochujang (Korean red chili pepper) paste - 6 TBS
Vegetable/peanut oil - 1/3 cup
Rice vinegar - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Salt

[Other ingredients]

Wonton skin - 8 (or more)
Mixed salad greens - 4 cup (or more)
Black sesame seeds - for garnish
White sesame seeds - for garnish
Lemon wedges - 1 lemon (cut in 4)

Oil for frying

Prep:

1. Prepare sauce. Mix all the ingredients for sauce in a blender. Blend until smooth. Keep in the fridge in an airtight container.
2. Prepare calamari. 
• If you are using fresh squid: wash it, take the inside out, peel the outer layer (you should be left with white, smooth squid). Cut into rings. Cut the tentacles. For tentacles, no need to worry about peeling the skin.  
• If you are using frozen squid, just defrost and cut in rings.
3. Put the squid in a container and season with salt and pepper. Keep it in the fridge until ready to use. 

Cook:

1. Heat the pot with oil (fill half of the pot). If you have thermometer, heat up to 375 degrees. Fry  wonton skin, two at a time, until golden brown. Take it out on a paper towel-ed plate. 
2. For calamari, put flour in a bowl, coat each squid in flour and fry until golden brown and crispy (about 2-3 minutes/batch).  You can fry them in batches of 3 or 4. 

Serve: 

1. In a bowl, toss the calamari in the Kochujang dressing. Add black and white sesame seeds and toss few more times. 
2. To assemble the salad, place mixed greens in a bowl. Add wonton skin (I break it up in smaller pieces, but not too small - about bite size) on top of the greens. Add calamari on top. 
3. Serve with lemon wedges and more Kochujang dressing. 

TIPS

•  I personally prefer fresh squid. It's very tender and the tentacles are very chewy. It takes more time to prepare, but it's worth it! I will post more pictures for that next time. 
• You can add peanut or cashew nuts on top.