Chinese-style soft-shell crabs
2 servings
Ingredients
Quantity | Ingredient | |
---|---|---|
4 | larges | Soft-shell crabs OR_ |
6 | smalls | Soft-shell crabs |
1 | large | Handful scallions, slivered |
1 | small | Handful fresh ginger, slivered |
Soy sauce | ||
Sherry | ||
Sesame oil |
Directions
Prepare crabs for cooking: thaw, rinse, pat dry, remove apron and gills. Sprinkle with cornstarch.
Make sure that you are wearing long sleeves and the kitchen fan is on full blast.
In a large skillet heat a couple tablespoons of peanut oil to the smoking point. Toss in the crabs. Immediately clap the lid on the skillet; when the initial clatter dies down, remove the lid or put it ajar. Cook until crisp, maybe 2 minutes. Flip and cook the other side. When they're done (? 4 minutes, I haven't any idea ?), toss in ginger and scallions; stir fry for a minute. Add soy and sherry to taste (I use about 1 tablespoon of each) and shake skillet around over high heat until sauce is mostly absorbed.
Arrange on a serving platter and drizzle a little sesame oil over.
The restaurants make the sauce separately: Boil the sauce ingedients and thicken with a little cornstarch water; when the crabs are fried, put them on a platter and pour the sauce over.
The advantage to the restaurant method is that the crabs are a little crisper; the advantages to my method is that the crabs absorb more flavor from the sauce and the meat comes out fluffier.
Recipe from Michael Loo. Converted to Meal-Master format by Arthur Cloninger.