Creamy Salted Egg Crab /咸蛋奶油螃蟹/クリーミー塩卵蟹 - Y3K Recipes 70

This is something similar to creamy version of Butter Prawn but used salted egg yolks instead of normal egg yolks. Both T and I loved Salted Egg Crab we had at a local seafood restaurant very much; hence I decided to recreate the taste at home. Dish I created tasted similar to restaurant version and creamier as we preferred.

It was my second attempt, first attempt I cooked with a few large prawns and T kept asking for extra sauce. This round I made extra sauce just in case, guess what, T had it with spaghetti and it was simply delish! An idea is borned - Creamy Salted Egg Pasta.

To me, cooking crab is easy but choosing crabs. I always rely on the seller to choose for me and pray hard that they would not cheat me. Can you share with me on how to choose a fresh and "meaty" crab? Okay, I do know how to distinguish male and female crabs.

Creamy Salted Egg Crab / 咸蛋奶油螃蟹 / クリーミー塩卵蟹

Ingredients (2-3 servings):
2 large mud crabs
Oil for deep-frying
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp butter
1 prig curry leaf
2 salted egg yolks (raw), chopped
½ cup evaporated milk
1 tsp Shaoxing wine
Pinch of dashi or chicken powder
Pinch of salt

Methods:

1. Clean and chop the crab into serving size then pat dry with paper towel. Must dry very well or else the oil will be splattering.
2. Heat oil in wok, add in the crab and fry until the colour turned red. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
3. Remove all the oil from the wok. Add in the butter, garlic and curry leaves, stir-fry on low heat until aromatic then add in the salted egg yolk.
4. Stir-fry until salted egg yolk is cooked, add in the evaporated milk, chicken powder and salt to taste.
5. Return the fried crab into the wok and stir to coat crab with the sauce. Add in Shaoxing wine, put the lid on and cook with low heat for one to two minutes. If the sauce has reduced too much, add in some more fresh milk.
6. Transfer to a serving plate, garnish and serve warm.

Cook's Notes:

1. Toothbrush is a very good tool for cleaning and scrubbing the crab.
2. If desired, coat crab with corn flour briefly before frying.

This recipe is featured in Y3K Recipes issue no. 70, together with Fried Calamari Rings, Sweet And Sout Cucumber, and Bang Bang Ji (Shredded Chicken) recipes.