I'm looking for a recipe for calamari balls. The ones we had were made of minced calamari covered in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. - Pearl Sing

A: I'd never heard of calamari turned into deep-fried balls but amended a recipe I found for calamari balls for a soup.

The calamari needs the stickiness of another white fish to keep it together.

I put the recipe to the test and discovered that the mixture turns into a paste and does require a large quantity of cornflour to bring it together to shape it, which was best done using two teaspoons. If desired, you could add some fresh chilli to the mixture.

Try to source fresh calamari tubes. The frozen ones are bulked up with a brine and on defrosting can be very watery.

CALAMARI BALLS (Makes about 24)

Ingredients:

• 150g firm white fish, like Cape whiting or dorado, chopped into small pieces
• 400g cleaned calamari tubes, chopped (not the frozen ones)
• ½ bunch spring onions, finely chopped
• 25ml chopped garlic
• 375ml cornflour
• 2,5ml bicarbonate of soda
• 60ml white sugar
• 10ml salt
• 15ml fish sauce
• cake flour for coating
• oil for frying

Method:

Combine the fish and calamari in a food processor or blender. Gradually add the spring onion and garlic and blend until smooth. Be careful not to over-process.

Add the cornflour, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, salt and fish sauce.

Shape into balls using two teaspoons. Sprinkle with cake flour and deep-fry in preheated oil. Drain on absorbent paper and serve with a sweet chilli sauce and wedges of lemon.

SMOKE-FREE ZONE

Q: When I read the fantastic-looking recipe on October 31 ("We wish you a boozy Christmas") I thought it was time to take over the Christmas cake mantle from my ageing mother.

However, not being a big baker I was immediately non-plussed by the instruction to wrap the pan with rolled-up sheets of newspaper. Is this to extend the height of the pan? And will the paper not burn in the oven? I see it's set for only 140°, so I suppose not. The other query I had was whether I could replace the marmalade with chunky apricot jam (my Greek husband, who eats just about anything on the planet, has an aversion to all things to do with citrus peel) and the candied peel with extra ginger, pineapple, figs etc? The completed drunken cake will have to travel down with us by car via the Karoo to the Cape. Do you think I should wrap it in tin foil to keep it moist? - Michele Karamanof

A: The newspaper wrapped around the pan, an old copy of the Sundays Times of course, is there to keep the cake from drying during the long baking period - and not, to extend the height of the pan. Fold up a couple of pages (use politics for a nutty cake, Business Times for a richer one and the back page for a sexier one) to the height of the cake pan. Secured with string, the paper is definitely no fire hazard and there will be no inferno in the oven, only the aroma of baking boozy fruit combined with the smell of heated newsprint. An interesting combination.

Of course you can replace the marmalade with chunky apricot jam and the candied peel with extra ginger, pineapple or figs or a combination of all three - or just leave it out.

Don't forget the essential part, the tipple that gets poured over the cake weekly.

And yes, boozy cakes do travel well, wrapped in foil and stored in an airtight container.

Send your food queries to food@sundaytimes.co.za