{"id":816,"date":"2021-07-08T20:01:23","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T12:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alienrecipes.com\/?p=816"},"modified":"2022-12-22T15:05:51","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T07:05:51","slug":"zen-chinese-crabs-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alienrecipes.com\/zen-chinese-crabs-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Zen Chinese Crabs Recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chinese cooking has always been a matter of taking simple ingredients and making them taste satisfying in a complex, layered way, usually delivering a sense of health beyond simply nourishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese crab is no exception. There are of course plenty of different Chinese crab recipes, but one that speaks to the fundamentals of Chinese cuisine \u2013 simplicity, taste, deep flavor, and the sensation that when you eat it you do more than take on nourishment, is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crab with Scallions and Ginger<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re not going to be doing too much that\u2019s complicated with this recipe, so take a breath. The point is to let the sweet crabmeat play with the heat of the ginger, and the sharp zing of the scallions. If you keep that trio in mind, you won\u2019t go far wrong, in crab sauce<\/a> or in life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweet, Heat, Zing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got it? Good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we get cooking, check your pantry for any ingredients you do not have, and add them to the list which currently should read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 cooked crab per person, or the equivalent in crab meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picking The Crab<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What kind of crab are you using for this recipe? Honestly, go imagination-wild. Personally, Dungeness crab is a favorite for sweetness and \u2013 let\u2019s not be coy here \u2013 meat-yield, but that\u2019s about as authentic as a fortune cookie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can use any kind of whole crab you like, from blue swimmer to soft shell, or by all means, go for prepared, shelled crab meat. When it comes to crab, you very much do you. You\u2019re looking for between 1.5-2 pounds of crab per person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recipe\u2019s going to assume you\u2019re a little lonely on prom night, and you have a solitary 2-pound crab<\/a> all to yourself. For quantities of other ingredients, simply multiply by the number of crabs in your pot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Check your pantry now. For the Crab with Scallions and Ginger, you\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • 1 crab, about 1.5-2 pounds. If you want an easier life during the prep stage, get your fishmonger or supermarket fish counter supremo to either give you unshelled crab meat or remove the crab meat from the shell for you there.
    • You don\u2019t have <\/em>to do that, but unless you know your crab breakdown techniques by heart, it\u2019ll save you time and pre-cooking, not to mention wear and tear on your craw toolkit.<\/li><\/ul><\/li>
    • 2 inches of ginger (peeled and cut into 10-12 pieces \u2013 or more if you like, but not too small)<\/li>
    • 3 scallions, cut into 2-inch length<\/li>
    • 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, for frying<\/li>
    • 1 tablespoon of cooking oil<\/li>
    • Enough oil for deep frying, besides the tablespoon<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      For the accompanying sauce, you\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce<\/li>
      • 2 dashes of white pepper (can use more if you like, but be careful with it)<\/li>
      • 1\/8 teaspoon of sesame oil<\/li>
      • 1\/2 teaspoon of sugar<\/li>
      • 6 tablespoons of water<\/li>
      • 3\/4 teaspoon of cornstarch<\/li>
      • 1\/8 teaspoon of fish sauce (available from any Chinese deli, if not from your local supermarket)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Time:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        This is not a super-hard recipe, and it really shouldn\u2019t take you long to be eating delicious crab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Roughly 15 minutes of prep time, 15 minutes of cooking. Half an hour to hot, sweet, zingy crab? And at much less than the price of the same dish in a restaurant? Where\u2019s the bad?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Preparation:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
        1. Get all your crab meat together. We\u2019re going to assume you did the smart thing and went unshelled. If you didn\u2019t\u2026 have some fun cracking your way into your shell-on cooked crab. We\u2019ll talk among ourselves till you\u2019re ready to go.<\/li>
        2. While the crab purists crack shells and accidentally twang claw-meat across their kitchen like frogs of the sea, it\u2019s time to make up the sauce. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          There\u2019s literally nothing to this except adding everything into a bowl or jug, one ingredient at a time, and then stirring until the technically \u2018dry\u2019 ingredients, like the sugar and white pepper are dissolved into the liquid. Set the sauce aside \u2013 its time will come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          1. Pat the crab meat dry \u2013 this is important, as excess moisture is going to hamper the next stage.<\/li>
          2. Put your cornflour into a bowl. Dip and coat the crab meat pieces, then put them into a separate bowl.<\/li>
          3. Grab your wok \u2013 it\u2019s crabbin\u2019 time.<\/li>
          4. Add your deep-frying oil to the wok \u2013 just enough to successfully deep fry. Heat up the wok until your oil is hot. How do you know it\u2019s hot enough? When you gently drop a piece of crab meat in, it should froth in a fury of deep-frying goodness, that\u2019s how.<\/li>
          5. Gently drop your crab meat into the wok, and deep fry, turning quickly.<\/li>
          6. When the crab meat turns red, it\u2019s you in Miami on the day you forgot sunscreen. Fish it out with a slotted spoon and leave it to drain \u2013 ideally on some kitchen paper, to absorb excess oil.<\/li>
          7. Drain the oil out of the wok. Do this safely, because wow, scalding hot oil \u2013 not fun to leave hanging around.<\/li>
          8. Add the tablespoon of oil to a now mostly oil-empty wok. No, really, this is not a conspiracy by Big Vegetable Oil, it\u2019s fresh oil, rather than the deep-frying oil.<\/li>
          9. Add the ginger to your oil and stir fry till you\u2019re getting those nose-stripping ginger vibes.<\/li>
          10. Add your deep-fried crab, and stir it around a few times, to pick up the ginger kick.<\/li>
          11. Add your sauce, and stir some more \u2013 you\u2019ll notice the intensity of the heat died down. Because liquids, that\u2019s why.<\/li>
          12. Add your scallions \u2013 you\u2019re not looking to really cook these little flavor bombs through. You still want some crunch and some zing, remember? That\u2019s what they\u2019re doing in this recipe.<\/li>
          13. Toss the crab in the sauce, but do it quickly \u2013 you want the crab meat coated, but you don\u2019t want it saturated through the deep-fried coating.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            Serve up, and what you have there is crab with some fundamental Chinese flavors \u2013 the oyster sauce and fish sauce in the combination crab sauce will add a depth of oceanic richness, and the crab will be crispy, succulent, and sweet, with that throat-warming ginger hit and the crunch and zing of the scallions to cut through the richness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Perfect for a cold night, perfect for a hungry night. Practically perfect for any night you like. Chinese Crab with Ginger and Scallions. It\u2019s a must-have in your recipe book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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