Dungeness Crab Hong Kong Noodles (北美大肉蟹雲吞麵, Bak1 Mei5 Daai6 Juk6 Haai5 Wan4 Tan1 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 30 Aug 2016. The Cantonese for Dungeness crab was added to the title, and some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Dungeness crab is now in season, which is a treat in my part of the world. My local Asian market had cooked crab leg clusters on sale and I couldn’t resist buying them. Usually only whole cooked and uncooked crabs are available, but in this case the only work I had to do was to remove the meat from the crab leg shells. I searched for a recipe using the crab meat and adapted the recipe from the Dungeness Crab with Cellophane Noodles recipe at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch website. This is a quick cooking dish and using Hong Kong noodles, in place of cellophane noodles, which works well with the crab.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

½ lb.	250 g.	Cooked Dungeness crab meat (北美大肉蟹, bak1 mei5 daai6 juk6 haai5) or equivalent
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), minced
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) lengths
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Lee Kum Kee Brand Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce (蠔油, hou4 jau4) or equivalent
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Three Crabs Brand Fish Sauce (魚露, jyu4 lou6) or equivalent
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1 lb.	454 g.	One package Hong Kong noodles (雲吞麵, wan4 tan1 min6)
		Oil for cooking

Equipment

		Garlic press
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

Preparation Instructions

Lee Kum Kee Brand
Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce
(蠔油, hou4 jau4

1. If using frozen cooked crab meat, thaw the crab in the refrigerator in a covered container overnight. Three sets of fresh cooked crab leg clusters, about 1-lb. (500 g.), were needed to produce ½-lb. (250 g.) of crab meat. Remove the crab meat from the shell, keeping the crab meat as intact as possible.
2. Mince the garlic.
3. Wash and cut the green onions into ½-inch (15 mm.) lengths.
4. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the ginger crushed in a garlic press, Lee Kum Kee brand Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce or equivalent, Three Crabs brand Fish Sauce or equivalent, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.

Cooking Instructions

1. If using dried noodles, cook according to the instructions on the package until the noodles just become al dente, drain the noodles, and set aside. If using thawed, ready-made, or fresh noodles, 

   

   Three Crabs Brand Fish Sauce
   (魚露, jyu4 lou6)

   “fluff” to separate the individual noodles (i.e. you don’t want put a single mass of noodles into the wok).
2. Heat a wok or pan over high heat and before adding oil. The oil in the wok should start to smoke before adding the minced garlic and then the crab meat. Quickly stir fry the crab and set aside in a bowl.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil and then the noodles. The wok should be very hot before adding the oil and then the noodles. Noodles cooked in a restaurant wok (over much higher heat than that available in your kitchen) are served slightly burned, which gives the noodles an extra added flavor.  To try to emulate slightly burned noodles, try to put the noodles in one layer in the hot wok and add some liquid (water, stock, or Shaoxing wine; but not too much liquid otherwise you’ll steam the noodles) to facilitate the heat transfer from the wok to the noodles, and leave the noodles alone. You want the noodles to get burned before adding more oil to the noodles and turning them over, repeating the process.
4. Add the green onions and the contents of the bowl with the crab back into the wok, and stir fry all the ingredients together. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok, mix the ingredients together, and then put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish.