Fried Dungeness Crab

Dungeness Crabs are a great Pacific NorthWest delicacy. You have most likely eaten them boiled, so I'll show you a much tastier way to prepare them - Fried Oriental Style.

First, pick an active live crab from the tank. If you're not up to cleaning it yourself, get the market to do it for you and go straight home & cook it as soon as possible. However, it's best if you do it yourself just before cooking . . .

Put the live crab in the freezer for at least half an hour to put it to sleep. Take it out of the freezer, turn it upside down on a chopping block and cut down the middle from mouth to tail without cutting through the top shell. Pull the two body halves from the shell. If you are not adventurous to eat the gills and guts, remove them; or you can leave a bit to try and see if you can acquire a taste for them. Break off the mouth and tail flaps, and trim off the claws at the end of each leg, then rinse with cool water. Detach the claws from the body and crack them a little to allow flavours to seep in when cooking. Cut the body halves once more into quarters.

Fry some smashed garlic and young ginger strips with three spoons of oil in a wok. Add the Dungeness Crab and stir fry for a minute, then toss in some oyster sauce, a few shakes of pepper, and a cup of chicken stock; stir well and cover the wok for five minutes. In the meantime, whip up an egg in a bowl with several spoons of water to thin it down a little; add some sesame oil and a pinch of salt to the mix for flavour.

Uncover the wok and slowly drizzle in the egg mixture while constantly stirring; this will thicken the crab sauce and add texture. After a few minutes, when the sauce has reduced to a nice thick constancy, the Dungeness Crab is ready to be served.

After you enjoy this dish, you can try other variations next time - for a spicy version, replace the oyster sauce with chilli paste. You can also do a black pepper version using black pepper sauce and chopped onions; use corn starch instead of the egg mix to thicken this sauce.