Cold Crabs
Nothing beats fresh of anything, especially fresh flower crabs. Just saw these beauties at CCWM this morning and I couldn’t resist getting them. Very often I would have a recipe in mind when I go CCWM, it’s easier to buy when you know what it would already taste like.
The flavour profiles in my mind were so intense I could have seared the flower crabs with my fiery eyeballs, just by staring at them. Steamed in my favourite Pu Ning Fermented Soya Beans (these are the bright yellow ones) the flower crabs would just be perfect. No words can describe.
Just ten minutes with the lid on and then allowing them to cool and finally resting them in the fridge will allow the flesh of the crabs to detach and caramelised the multiple flavour profiles that resides within the crab. Okay. The rest is immaterial because it is just garnishing that you could do without.
Cooking anything should be simple and uncomplicated and it should retain the clean signatures of the dish that we have grown to love so much. Some call this dish a Teochew delicacy, served cold with a sweet tangerine sauce on the side. It will be sheer delight to pick the flesh apart later.
Recipe
Ingredients
Flower Crabs (as many as you would like to eat, but they must be fresh)
Pu Ning Fermented Soya Beans (these fermented soya beans from Pu Ning, Jie Yang, China are unique and delicious. Usually a bright yellow and lightly salted, they add flavours to my dishes that no other fermented soya bean can do)
Sweet Tangerine Sauce (this is for dipping the flesh of the crabs, but I like the crabs without it)
Method
1. Scrub the flower crabs and keep the body parts intact. Usually the flower crabs are dead when we buy them, rarely you will get them alive at the markets so don’t worry about them not being fresh. I always get the female ones because of the eggs.
2. Place them in a tray, drizzle the fermented soya bean sauce on the crabs generously. Place in a wok and steam them with lid on for ten minutes at high heat. The water in the wok for steaming must be boiling hot.
3. When they are cooked and a bright reddish orange colour, just let them cool and allow them to rest further in the fridge. This dish is best served cold, thus the name Cold Crabs.
4. The sweet tangerine sauce can over power the natural flavours of the crabs, so I would suggest dipping conservatively.
5. You can garnish them with parsley if you like but that’s mostly for showmanship which is especially important when you have friends coming over for lunch or dinner. Otherwise, you can just serve it just like that.
Bon Appetit!
Fresh Flower Crabs