Dungeness crab is one of my favoritest foods of all time and it always has been since I was a kid. Now that I think about it, it was probably the only seafood I really enjoyed growing up. I had a psychological aversion to shrimp where the flavor and texture of it would make me gag; I can’t explain why, but my mom said it started when my uncle brought back live lobster and shrimp from Alaska and it apparently freaked me out. I don’t know if that’s the true origin story of where my distaste for shrimp began, but for a while I could not eat anything that resembled it in its flavor or chewy texture (lobster, scallops, clams, mussels, etc.). I’m only slightly affected now – I enjoy eating lobster, scallops, and clams. I can eat shrimp (I won’t gag or die), but I still don’t enjoy it very much. I don’t know why I’m sharing this on here, but let’s just call it a (subjectively) fun fact lol. Anyways, my cousin’s best friend is a pretty good cook (the bully that made fun of my pasta dough in my other post); she posted a video of her crab on instagram a while ago that looked good and I asked her for her recipe. She was not very helpful with instructions/measurements (if you’re reading this: GARBAGE lol) but I took her ingredients as a guideline and winged it with some modifications. Below are my best guestimates of the measurements I used.
Note: She typically flash boils the crab and then bakes it in the crab fat/sauce for about 15-20 minutes at 375°. I had already pre-cooked my crab so I ended up cooking it on the wok to avoid over cooking/drying out the crab in the oven. I’ll try her cooking method next time.
Ingredients:
- 1 dungeness crab (1.5 – 2 lbs)
- 3 green onions
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 inch piece of ginger root
- 2 tablespoons of processed lemon grass (not in her original recipe)
- 1 tablespoon Chicken bouillon powder
- 1 tsp red chili flakes (not in her original recipe)
- 1/2 tsp cayenne powder (not in her original recipe)
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar (not in her original recipe)
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/2 cup water (not in her original recipe)
- Maggi seasoning (not in her original recipe)
Step 1 – Prep Crab:
- Clean crab
- I bought a live dungeness crab at an asian seafood grocery store, so I rinsed it with water and cleaned its exterior with a toothbrush (it was new and unused for you trolls out there lol). I used tongs to hold it at its stomach so it wouldn’t clamp me with its claws – be careful here!
- You can choose to boil or steam the crab to cook it; I decided to steam it by boiling an inch of water in the pot, and putting the crab in there with the lid on for 12 minutes (the guideline is to steam it 7-8 minutes for every lb it weighs).
- I put it in an iced water bath after for about 5 minutes to stop it from cooking more.
- Pull off the shell of the crab; the gunky stuff in its shell is called “crab fat.” Reserve this because it will be used for the sauce.
- Remove the crab lungs and then cut up the crab into serving pieces.
Step 2 – Prep Veggies:
- Mince garlic.
- Cut green onions into 2 inch pieces.
- Peel and thinly slice ginger.
Step 3 – Wok it Up:
- Preheat a wok on medium high.
- Heat up canola oil, and then throw in garlic, ginger, lemon grass and stir fry for about 10 seconds.
- Add butter and crab fat; stir for 1 minute.
- Add in the green onion.
- Season with bouillon powder, chili flakes, cayenne pepper, sugar, and maggi sauce.
- Taste the sauce, if it’s oversalted, add water and/or sugar to balance it out. I added about 1/2 a cup of water; I just filled up the the crab shell with water to get any remnants of the crab fat and poured that into the wok.
- Continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes to re-warm up the crab and let the sauce cook into it.
If I were to do this again:
- Add sliced jalapenos for extra heat if remaking this dish.
- Try out the original recipe as intended and follow her cooking method of flash boiling and then baking the crab.
Inspiration:
Kimmy’s crab + my mom’s crab, since she uses maggi in her crab recipe sometimes.
CDeezy's Kitchen 