Abalone Sauce Stone Crab Noodles (鮑魚醬石蟹炒麵, Baau1 Jyu4 Zoeng3 Sek6 Haai5 Caau2 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 26 Aug 2016. The title was changed to incorporate the Cantonese translation for Stone Crab.

My local Asian market had cooked stone crabs available, so I bought four of them (about 2 lb. (1 kg.) total) and after shelling got about ¾ lb. (375 g.) of meat. My previous crab noodle recipes used Dungeness crabs: Creamy Tomato Dungeness Crab Pasta, Dungeness Crab and Quail Egg Shallot Sauce Noodles (紅蔥鵪鶉蛋蟹麵, Hung⁴ Cung¹ Am¹ Ceon¹ Daan⁶ Haai⁵ Min⁶), and Dungeness Crab Hong Kong Noodles (蟹雲吞麵, Haai⁵ Wan⁴ Tan¹ Min⁶). Unlike Dungeness crabs, stone crabs have very thick and brittle shells that break into small pieces, which makes it very difficult to keep shell pieces out of the crab meat, and hence out of the noodle dish. While stone crabs are tasty, you have to eat this dish carefully to avoid any small shell pieces. Stone crab claws are large (when compared to their body size), so if you like claw meat, stone crabs are for you. Another cooked crab meat can be substituted if stone crabs are not available.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

¾ lb.	375 g.	Cooked stone crab meat (石蟹, sek6 haai5)
½ lb.	250 g.	Snow peas (荷蘭豆, ho4 laan4 dau6)
8	8	Dried Shiitake mushrooms (冬菇, dung1 gu1), rehydrated and cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
3	3	Eggs (雞蛋, gai1 daan6), scrambled
10.5 oz.	297 g.	One 20 oz. (566 g.) can bamboo shoot strips (筍, seon2), drained, or use fresh if available
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces on the diagonal
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
3 cloves	3 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 lb.	500 g.	One package chow mein noodles (炒麵, caau2 min6)
		Oil for cooking

Sauce Ingredients

2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Lee Kum Kee brand Abalone Sauce (鮑魚醬, baau1 jyu4 zoeng3) or equivalent
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
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)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

Equipment

		Garlic press
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

Preparation Instructions

1. 

   Lee Kum Kee Brand
   Abalone Sauce
   (鮑魚醬, baau1 jyu4 zoeng3)

   If using frozen cooked stone crab meat, thaw in a covered container overnight in the refrigerator. Take the crab out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking. If using cooked whole crabs, remove the meat from the shells. Approximately four whole cooked stone crabs, about 2 lbs. (1 kg.) total in weight, will yield around ¾ lbs. (375 g.) of meat. Remove any shells remaining in the meat, which can be difficult because the shells break into small pieces easily.
2. Pour boiling water over the dried Shiitake mushrooms in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the mushrooms for at least one hour. Remove the Shiitake mushrooms from the rehydration liquid, remove the stems, and cut them into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces. Reserve the rehydration liquid for later use in the cooking process.
3. Wash and remove the string from the snow peas by grasping each snow pea in one hand and pulling the tip the length of the snow pea with the other.
4. Break and scramble the eggs in a bowl.
5. Open and drain the can with the bamboo shoots, or use fresh if available (wash first). Remove as much water as possible to facilitate stir frying.
6. Crush the ginger and garlic in a garlic press and put into a small bowl.
7. Wash and cut the green onions into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces on the diagonal.
8. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the Lee Kum Kee brand abalone sauce or equivalent, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.

Cooking Instructions

1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package and until the noodles are al dente. Drain the noodles and set aside. If using thawed, ready-made, or fresh noodles, “fluff” the noodles to separate them (i.e. you don’t want put a single mass of noodles into the wok).
2. Heat a wok or pan over high heat before adding oil. Add the eggs and scramble them while the wok is heating up. To get fluffy scrambled eggs, use this technique: As the eggs set, remove the pan or wok from the heat while continually scrambling the eggs with a spatula. Once the eggs stop setting off the heat, put the wok back onto the heat until the eggs start setting again. Continue taking the pan or wok on and off the heat as the eggs set until fully scrambled. Transfer the eggs to a bowl when complete.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the Shiitake mushrooms. Stir fry the mushrooms and then transfer them to a bowl separate from the scrambled eggs.
4. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the snow peas. Stir fry the snow peas to brown them. Add the bowl with the ginger and garlic mixture, and then some oil to the mixture. Quickly stir fry all the ingredients until the ginger and garlic mixture becomes fragrant. Transfer the contents of the wok to the bowl with the mushrooms.
5. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the bamboo shoots. Stir fry the bamboo shoots and then transfer them to the bowl with the mushrooms.
6. 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 of the mushroom rehydration liquid (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.
7. Add the green onions, crab meat, scrambled eggs, and the contents of the bowl with the mushrooms back into the wok, and stir fry all the ingredients together. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and mix the ingredients together. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve immediately.