Alyssa: Yung & I collaborated on this recipe - the soft shell crab part he made (from very generic Chinese methods & ingredients) and the green tea soba part I made modifying someone else's recipe I'd plagiarised from my many cookbooks. The result is a very delectable summer dish - if we could say so ourselves - and the best part of it is it only takes about half and hour to prepare and cook.
You will need:
- 3-4 soft shell crabs (these can be bought from any Chinese grocery. You will find them in the frozen food section. They're sold frozen in a box of 4 or you might find them in an Asian seafood store in the frozen food section). Defrost the crabs and make sure you drain excess water by placing them on absorbent paper. Cut the crabs up into quaters.
- 1 packet of deep frying batter (ie flour mixed with corn starch)
- 1 red chilli (or red and green peppers for a milder taste - we used all three being the Asians we are!)
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
- few strands of coriander for garnishing (optional)
For the soba:
- any type of soba (we used green tea)
- 1 cucumber diced
- 2 tablespoons of mirin (or sherry)
- 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- 1/2 cup of toasted sesame
Cooking
- combine the mirin, rice vinegar and soy sauce in a small mixing bowl with the diced cucumber. Set aside.
- cook the soba as per the instructions on the packet. Once the soba is cooked, drain and run it under cold water and dry on paper towels.
- Place the soba on a serving plate and coat the soba generously with the cucumber sauce and toasted sesame. Set aside.
- prepare batter. Dip the crabs into the batter.
- deep fry the crab pieces until golden. Place the cooked crabs on absorbent paper to remove excess oil.
- in an oiled frying pan, fry the diced garlic, chillies and crabs for a few minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Top the soba with the crabs. Add some coriander for garnishing.
This dish goes well with white wine or a cold beer. Enjoy.
5 comments:
Mmmhh... Mmmhh.. Yum! But what is Soba? Is that like pasta? Mai
sorry for the vague descriptions -as you would've notice, most of the ingredients we use comes in either a packet or a jar bought off the shelf (no making from scratch - who's got thre time?). Soba is japanese buckwheat noodles. The ones we use are the hakubaku brand: www.hakubaku.com
Let me know if you make this one day. I'm gonna try out your turkey meatball recipe - it sounds delicious!
Yes. I definitely want to try the crab recipe - but I have to wait till next time I go to the Chinese grocery store to get the crab which is located 45 minutes from my house. I'm so lazy, I never go that way! But you should definitely try the Meatballs, if the recipe makes too many meatballs you can place them seperately on a tray put them in the freezer until they harden then put them in a ziplock bag for use later. That way you just have to fry them up and add a jar of sauce and you have an instant meal! The thing I liked about those meatballs was that they were juicy and tender inside (no dry and hard) but yet crusty/crunchy on the outside.
I remember being honoured enough to have been served a culled down version of this recipe when Mai and I visited your joint at Breakfast Point that time. Maybe Mai remembers? Yung actually cooked the crab for us and you presented it beautifully with the soba noodles. I luuuurve soft-shelled crab! This version of the recipe looks great. That was another fun night... cocktails and confessions. xx
Somehow alcohol-fuelled girl banter always leads to confessions, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!
Let me know if this type of crustacean makes an appearance on your future dinner menu in whatever form - yummy!
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