Here is an Asian style dish that comes with a savory sauce or gravy to compliment your dungeness crab. The crab should be steamed first or use store bought, precooked dungeness crab to cut your preparation time.
Black Bean Garlic Sauce is bottled usually in small glass jars as a concentrated paste. The paste can be found in Asian markets and Ethnic Food sections of your local supermarket. Using a wok is preferred for cooking this dish.
Preparing Pre-Cooked Crab:
1. Break off pair of crab claws from body. With underside of crab facing up, center cut (between eyes to rear end) crab body in half with heavy knife or cleaver by applying most of the blade pressure to the rear end side. It's not necessary to cut completely through the main body shell, just up to the point where the meaty section of the crab that are attached to legs will break away from the main shell.
2. Remove and discard gills (lungs?) that are attached to both halves of the meaty section of the body. They look like little fibrous feathers and are pale-white/grayish in color and can be easily pulled away with your fingers. As an option, save all other "innards and gravy" of the cooked crab including residue from main body shell. Put aside separately in a bowl. Discard main body shell.
3. Detach crab legs by slicing through the meaty section, leaving a piece of body meat attached to each leg. Slightly crush leg sections and claws to allow flavors to seep.
Cooking:
1. In wok, heat peanut oil or vegetable oil and quickly saute garlic and ginger with crab legs. Add can of chicken broth, bring to simmer and mix to heat crab legs.
2. As broth comes to boiling, add black bean garlic paste, gradually not all at once because this paste is salty. Adding the sugar next, more or less, will balance the saltiness. So test taste to your liking at this point. Use the amounts provided for the bean paste and sugar as a guide.
3. Add black or white pepper to taste or your favorite heat enhancer to spice it up.
4. Once taste is to your liking, mix crab in sauce to infuse flavor into legs. Push crab legs upward to sides of wok to create an empty well at bottom of wok. As broth continues to boil, add beaten eggs and stir vigorously at center of wok; notice a slurry that will develop. This egg slurry brings additional body and flavor to the sauce and you may also, as an option, add and stir in the real crab innards and gravy at this time.
3. Reduce heat to medium high; add corn starch mixture gradually and stir to thicken broth/gravy to your liking. Give final quick mix of crab legs and turn off heat, ready to serve.
5. If using a serving platter, place crab legs with claws pointing out to edge of platter and meaty sections in center. Pour gravy over meaty sections and garnish with chopped green onion. Enjoy... Yummy with white rice topped with black bean garlic sauce too!
Reviews
☆☆☆☆☆
I posted this recipe. Another variation to the flavor of the sauce is to use just the egg white of two large eggs.
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