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Preparation
1 hour
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Difficulty
Easy
For seafood lovers, salt-roasted crab is a dish that cannot be missed. Let’s get into the kitchen with TasteVN and add the flavorful, sweet and sour salt-roasted crab dish to your cookbook!
Ingredients for Salt-Roasted Crab Serves 4
Sea crab 1 kg (2 crabs) Horn chili 1 piece Green onions 2 stalks Garlic 10 cloves Kumquat 5 fruits Chopped chili 1/2 teaspoon Flour 10 grams Cooking oil 10 grams Sugar 10 grams MSG 10 grams Seasoning powder 10 grams
How to choose fresh and delicious crabs
How to distinguish between meat crabs and roe crabs
- Roe crabs: Roe crabs are female crabs with a square, large apron. Looking under the crab’s belly, if you see full, bright red roe, that is a good crab, firm, with a lot of roe.
- Meat crabs: Meat crabs are male crabs with a small, triangular apron.
How to choose delicious, firm crabs
- Based on color: Good crabs have a dark shell, and the color between the shell and the top of the crab’s claws will be similar. Additionally, good crabs will have a dark orange-brown color and shine on the underside of the claws and belly; if the belly and the underside of the claws are pale or even bright white, then the crab is still young, and the quality of the meat and roe is not high.
- Pressing the crab’s apron: When you press on the crab’s apron and it feels firm, it means the crab is solid and has a lot of meat. If this part is soft and flabby, it means the crab is not fresh and has little meat.
- You should buy live crabs with flexible joints and sharp spines.
Overview: If you look at the whole crab and see a dark color, a firm apron tightly attached to the crab’s body, and the spines on the crab’s body are still sharp, if the crab is still alive, its legs and claws move rhythmically and flexibly, it is fresh, delicious, and meaty.
How to prepare Salted Crab with Kumquat
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Prepare the crab
Wash the crab thoroughly, then separate the shell, while also removing the apron and the top part of the crab body. Chop the crab into 2 or 4 pieces as desired, cut off the sharp ends of the crab legs, and crack the shell of the crab claws.
Tips for cleaning and preserving crab
- Soak the crab in a bowl of ice water to temporarily stun it, so when cooking, the crab won’t lose its legs. Once the crab is firm, remove the tie, and use a toothbrush to scrub the entire body of the crab, including the spaces between the legs, to make it really clean, then rinse the crab again to remove all dirt and debris.
- If you don’t have time to clean the crab immediately, when you buy it, you can put the crab in the freezer or on a piece of ice to keep it firm without killing it. Do not put the crab in water as it will die faster due to thermal shock.
Note:
- Be sure to clean the crab thoroughly to eliminate any fishy smell, which helps make the dish more delicious.
- Cracking the crab shell helps the seasoning penetrate evenly inside, but be careful not to crack too hard as it may cause the crab meat to become mushy.
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Prepare other ingredients
Remove the seeds from the chili, then cut it into diamond-shaped pieces.
Wash the green onions, cut into pieces about 2cm long. Crush the garlic.
Squeeze the lime to extract the juice, take the peel of 2 limes and cut into strips.
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Fry the crab
After cleaning the crab, roll it in a layer of flour, ensuring the flour covers the crab evenly.
Heat a pan on the stove, add cooking oil. When the oil is hot, add the crab and crab shells into the oil and fry on high heat for 5 – 7 minutes until the crab is golden, then remove and drain the oil.
Tip
- Rolling the crab in flour before frying helps remove moisture, preventing the crab from splattering oil while frying.
- Fry the crab on high heat for 5 – 7 minutes to ensure it cooks evenly without drying out.
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Make tamarind sauce
Place another pan on the stove, sauté garlic until golden and fragrant. Add 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate, 1 tablespoon of seasoning powder, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of tamarind juice, and 1 teaspoon of shredded tamarind peel into the pan.
Stir well and cook until the seasonings are completely dissolved. Adjust the seasoning to taste, then add the crab, simmer until the sauce is reduced and thickened. Turn off the heat, add sliced chili and green onions, stir well to finish.
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Make tamarind crab
Add 20 grams of finely chopped Vietnamese coriander, 1.5 tablespoons of seasoning powder, 2 tablespoons of tamarind juice, 1 tablespoon of finely shredded tamarind peel into a bowl, and add chopped chili.
Arrange the crab on a plate, drizzle the sauce around, and garnish to make it beautiful to finish.
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Finished product
The salted crab with tamarind is sweet and sour, featuring the special sour and fragrant taste of tamarind, balanced with the savory and sweet seasonings. This will certainly be an ideal dish for a nutritious meal.
How to preserve crabs before processing
For unprocessed crabs, you should keep them in the freezer or place them on a block of ice. The cold will harden the crabs, making it easier for you during the processing.
Notes
You can use either freshwater crabs or sea crabs to prepare the dishes below.
You should not use tea to rinse your mouth after eating crabs because the tannin contained in tea will react with the protein in crab meat, creating sediment that can lead to kidney stones, affecting your health.
See more:
The above information is about how to make salted tangerine crab that TasteVN wants to share with you. Wishing you success
*Refer to the recipe and images from the YouTube channel: IMC Music
