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5 from 3 votes

Stir Fried Crab with Chinese New Year Cake

Stir Fried Crab with Chinese New Year Cake is made with sweet and succulent flower crab stir fried (Hua Xie Chao) with delicate herbs, spices and sticky glutinous rice Chinese New Year Cakes (Nian Gao).
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: Mains
Cuisine: Chinese
Servings: 4
Calories: 363kcal
Author: HWC Magazine

Ingredients

  • 2 crabs
    live Asian flower crabs (Hua Xie) female hard shell crabs with lots of roe are best.
  • 500 grams Chinese New Year Cakes Nian Gao (Sticky rice oval sliced cakes) - can use dried or fresh and even exchange with Korean dduk if cannot find Chinese sticky rice cakes
  • 1-2 tablespoon cornstarch
    to coat the the ends of the crab and to prevent crab from coming out of shell and to help thicken the sauce.
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1.5 inch ginger
    knob of ginger cut into thin julienned slivers. (Do not mince or it will be too strong a flavor in the dish)
  • 2 cloves garlic
    peeled and minced
  • 3 green onions
    cut into 2 inch strips (and extra for garnish) Use the white sections for aromatics and save the green sections at the end of the cooking process
  • ½ cup rice wine (shao xing)
    or cooking sherry
  • 1.5 tablespoon tamari (soy) sauce
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 teaspoon sugar
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Ask your fish monger to quarter the crab and remove the lungs. Alternatively if you bring home a live crab, then place crab in lots of ice to help sedate the crab before stunning, quartering the crab and removing the lungs and main shell (called the carapace) Keep the main shell (carapace) whole but quarter the leg sections.
  • Rinse your Sticky Chinese New Year rice cakes. Do not soak or otherwise they get too sticky. Set aside.
  • Dip the ends of the cut crab in cornstarch. this helps prevent the meat from falling out during the cooking process and also helps thicken the sauce.
  • Place oil in wok and add ginger, garlic and the white end of the green onion (bash the white parts of the green onion with the back of clever) and fry until aromatic. Add all of your crab quarters, main top shell and legs and stir fry for 3-4 minutes or until crab shells turn red.
  • Add the Shaoxing wine, Tamari (light soy sauce) and dark soy sauce to taste, sugar, rice cakes and water. Stir fry for 1 minute and then cover for about 2 additional minutes or until rice cakes are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.
  • Add the green part of the scallions and stir into mixture, adjust seasonings as needed and serve. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 363kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 757mg | Potassium: 339mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 163IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 1mg