One of the things that I miss most about Malaysia is the availability of various kinds of little fishes in the market; little fishes that I grew up eating, little fishes that need no special recipes, little fishes that taste like heaven when deep-fried with just a little salt and turmeric powder or tamarind, little fishes that are so crispy (or “garing” in local language) that one can pretty much eat the whole thing including the bones, tail and head…(view more seafood galore after the jump)
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Creamy Butter Crab pictures (1 of 5)
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The holiday season is just around the corner and I wanted to share a special recipe with you: creamy butter crab. Last Christmas, I served creamy butter crab to my friends and family and they couldn’t get enough of it. Everyone was asking for the secret recipe.
Creamy butter crab is a fairly new Malaysian creation and has gotten popular these past few years. Made popular by King Crab restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, the basic ingredients consist of butter, evaporated milk, bird’s eye chilies, and curry leaves. The curry leaves lend a distinct and exotic flavor and complement the richness of butter and evaporated milk. The bird’s eye chilies add an extra kick to the dish…(get the secret recipe of creamy butter crab after the jump)
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Ginger and Scallion Crab pictures (1 of 4)
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(Chinese recipes, prepare authentic Chinese food now!)
Remember that scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts was trying to devour her escargot and it flew across the table?
I had that exact “Pretty Woman” moment–a disgraceful and embarrassing one I must say–at a Chinese restaurant recently. It was a plate of mouth-watering ginger and scallion crab, and the character in play was a succulent crab claw, the last one remaining. The culprit was a crab cracker. Being my clumsy self, coupled with the sin of gluttony, my crab claw flew across the table and landed on the carpet at a sad and dark corner of the restaurant. And there was no waiter to catch it for me!
Throughout the dinner, I kept looking down at the poor crab claw that I almost had in my mouth. It was a huge and beautiful crab claw. The shell was perfectly cracked and revealed the juicy meat inside. Drool…mmmm….I was this close to eating that crab claw. Darn it.
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Garlic Noodles and Roasted Crab pictures (1 of 8)
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If you live in the Bay Area or the Greater Los Angeles Area, I am sure you have heard of–and most likely dined in–the famed Thanh Long Restaurant and its better known sister property Crustacean. Their signature garlic noodles and roasted crab not only won over food critics, foodies, and aficionados alike, they also help launched a multi-million restaurant empire (counting 3 and growing!) for the An’s family who hailed from Vietnam. The legacy lies in the “Secret Kitchen“–a completely enclosed kitchen within the main kitchen, off limits to all employees, where the family members churn out the legendary garlic noodles and roasted crab, using secret recipes that were passed down for three generations.
I had dined at Thanh Long in San Francisco many years ago and really enjoyed the garlic noodles and roasted crab, but it’s not until this week that I reacquainted myself with them. This time, the location was Crustacean Beverly Hills; the dishes ordered were roasted crab, grilled tiger prawns with garlic noodles, and Maine lobster with garlic noodles.
The taste of the garlic noodles was exactly what I remember. In my honest opinion, their roasted crab was too dry for my taste (I think the crab was boiled and then roasted in the oven hence it lost all its juicyness). The lobster garlic noodles was good, but not spectacular. The best dish was definitely grilled tiger prawns with garlic noodles. The sweetness of the grilled prawns complemented the garlic noodles perfectly. Everything ordered that night was also a tad too salty. Anyway, I was still smitten by their foods, and most importantly, intrigued by their “Secret Kitchen” and secret family recipes…
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My bounty at Sydney Fish Market–salt and pepper Australian Mud Crab. I originally picked a live green-lip abalone but it was DOA (dead on arrival), but you can’t go wrong with giant mud crab, deep-fried with salt and pepper batter.
If you like Chinese/Cantonese-style seafood, head over to Christie’s Seafoods. You can’t miss it as they [...]
(Chinese recipes, prepare authentic Chinese food now!)
One of the functions that I seriously enjoy is attending Chinese wedding banquets, which in my opinion is quite a dream come through for serious foodies like myself–well, minus the uninspiring ceremonies and acts such as deafening Yum Seng (bottoms up in Cantonese) echoes and really bad karaoke performance [...]
I was going to feature my third recipe using red bean paste today, but I changed my mind because I have a dish which is way more interesting to share–black pepper crab!
The crab is all happily mingled with loads of butter, dried shrimp, aromatic curry leaves, bird’s-eye chilies, and other seasonings. Black pepper crab to [...]
The soft shell crab season is about to start (it usually runs from May to July) and I thought I would share a soft shell crab recipe that I really like with you.
Typically found in Japanese restaurants, these homemade soft shell crabs were coated with panko, deep fried, and served with ginger ponzu sauce. The [...]
