Best Steamed Crab With Ginger Recipes

SCALLION GINGER CANTONESE CRAB

Steps:

• Clean and prep the crabs for cooking (see step-by-step instructions within this post).
• Take each of the crab halves and lightly dredge each large piece in a light coating of flour. Transfer to a clean plate along with the claws and shells. Sprinkle the remaining flour over the crab pieces.
• Heat a wok with 4 tablespoons of oil, spreading the oil around the wok so it heats evenly. You know you have reached the right temperature when you start to see just a little (not a lot!) of smoke on the sides of the wok. Now quickly place each of the large pieces of crab in the oil and spread the claws and shells around the outside portion of the wok. Next, quickly tilt the wok around in a circle to get the oil spread around to all of the crab pieces, keeping the heat on high. After another 15 seconds of this, use a spatula and roll the pieces around the oil for another 15 seconds. Turn off the heat and remove to a plate or small sheet pan.
• Clean the wok, add 2 tablespoons of oil and toss in the ginger pieces until they are just starting to caramelize (15 seconds) and then add half of the scallions - use the white pieces for this step.
• Keep the heat on high and move quickly to add the crab to wok and toss the crab around with your spatula to get some good sizzle. After about 10 seconds, add the wine in a circle around the pan and immediately cover the wok and turn the heat down to medium. Let the crab cook for 2-3 minutes. During this process, it is best to hold the cover and tilt the wok so the liquid hits the hot sides of the wok and you hear and see a sizzle generating that elusive "wok hay" flavor. If you have no sizzle, the heat is too low.
• Remove the cover and spread the rest of the scallions over the crab. Add the sugar, white pepper and soy sauce. Give everything a good mix for another 10 seconds. Plate and serve!

MALAYSIAN-STYLE GINGER-CHILE CRAB

Steps:

• If using live crabs, pour water in a large pot to a depth of 1 1/2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, add crabs, turn heat to medium-high, cover and steam until crabs are bright orange-red and all the blue-green color is gone, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and rinse under cold running water. (If using precooked crabs, skip to Step 2.)
• Clean the crabs: Grasp the top shell at the front, pull it away from the body and discard it. Turn the crab over, pry off the triangular apron and discard it, along with the spongy white gills. Grab the legs and claws close to the body, twist them off, and crack the claws lightly with a hammer. Discard the legs (or, if you are a crab fanatic, suck the meat out of them). You want to end up with a body and 2 claws, including knuckles, from each crab. Snap the body in half, using a chef's knife to cut through the shell if necessary.
• In a large sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil over high heat until it just begins to smoke. Add half the crab bodies and claws and sauté, tossing frequently with your tongs, for about 3 minutes. Add half of each of the remaining ingredients, except the salt and black pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute more.
• Remove everything from pan, add remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and repeat with remaining crabs and ingredients. Season with salt and black pepper. Serve warm or room temperature, with nutcrackers and picks.

STEAMED CRAB WITH GINGER

Steps:

• To segment the crabs, lift the flap under the body with your thumb and pull off the top part of the shell with one hand while holding the body firmly with the other and discard the top shell.
• Remove and discard the spongy white gills on either side of the body and rinse out the brown/yellow much and then use a sharp knife to cut each body in half and then that half in half again and crack the claws with a nutcracker.
• Put a rack into a electric fry pan (skillet - ours are square) and put water into bottom of the frypan (in the original recipe they used a bamboo steamer in a wok and used a heat proof dish in the steamer), bring the water to the boil.
• Meanwhile, place lemon grass on a heatproof plate and place crab on the lemon grass (try to do one layer) and sprinkle with sugar and drizzle with soy sauce and half of the sliced ginger.
• Place the plate in the steamer and cook covered for 3 minutes or until crab is just cooked through (the meat will be white rather than transparent when cooked - we found the crabs in Cowell cooked quicker than we were used to in Perth).
• Sprinkle with spring onions and remaining ginger and cook a further minute or 2 until spring onion wilts and then remove from heat (to be honest I put all the ginger and spring onions together in the previous step and missed this one cooking the crab for 5 minutes which actually overcooked it).
• We just put the plate (or in our case it was 2 plates) in the centre of the table with finger bowls and napkins and everyone helps themselves or put into individual serving bowls and garnish with coriander leaves.

STEAMED DUNGENESS CRAB WITH GINGER

Steps:

• Put water in the bottom of a steamer. Put the crabs on a plate and spread the wine, sliced ginger, and 1/4 cup soy sauce over them. Place in the steamer and cover; cook until the crabs are hot and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the remaining ingredients to make a dipping sauce. Serve hot with the dipping sauce.