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.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Enjoy Dungeness crab with these crab recipes on Rasa Malaysia:
- Roasted crab with butter and black pepper
- My mom’s famous chili crab
- Black Pepper Crab – A Malaysian and Singaporean favorite
Chinese Ginger and Scallion Crab
When I was grocery shopping today and saw that Dungeness crab was on sale for $3.99 per pound, I knew exactly what I was going to make–ginger and scallion crab.
If you’ve been to a real Chinese restaurants in the United States, I am sure you are familiar with ginger and scallion crab (姜葱蟹).
Crabs are mostly prepared two ways in these Chinese restaurants: ginger and scallion or salt and pepper crab. Personally, I love the wok-hei infused ginger and scallion crab.
In my opinion, ginger and scallion are perfect matches made for Chinese stir-fry dishes–be it seafood or meat. (Previously on Rasa Malaysia, I had dished up ginger and scallion chicken.)
Ingredients for Ginger and Scallion Crab Sauce
This easy recipe requires just a few simple ingredients to create the sauce:
- Oyster Sauce
- White Pepper Powder
- Sesame Oil
- Sugar
- Water
- Corn Starch
- Fish Sauce
That’s it!
Eating out, ginger and scallion crab is rather pricey but I spend less than $6 making it at home. If you think that ginger and scallion crab is one of those dishes that is better served at Chinese restaurants, think twice. The recipe is very easy and takes only a few basic ingredients.
As for me, not only did I have my fix of ginger and scallion crab, I had two crab claws all to myself. And no, they didn’t fly across the table this time. ;)
What Dishes to Serve with this Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
How Many Calories Per Serving?
This recipe is only 68 calories per serving.
5 Secrets to 20 Min Dinners
Get tricks for quick & easy meals!
Ginger and Scallion Crab
Chinese ginger and scallion crab recipe. This ginger and scallion crab recipes makes restaurant-worthy ginger and scallion crab, as good as restaurant's.
Ingredients
- 1 crab, about 1 1/2 - 2 pounds
- 2 inches ginger, peeled and sliced into 10-12 pieces
- 3 stalks scallion, cut into 2-inch length
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch for frying
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- oil for deep frying
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 2 dashes white pepper powder
- 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 6 tablespoons water
- 3/4 teaspoon corn starch
- 1/8 teaspoon fish sauce
Instructions
- Mix the sauce and set aside.
- Clean the crab and cut into pieces. Pat dry with paper towels and put into a big bowl. Add the corn flour to the bowl and lightly coat the crab pieces with it. Heat up a wok and add cooking oil. When the oil is heated, drop the crab pieces and deep fry. As soon as they turn red, dish out, strain the excess oil and set aside.
- Heat up a wok and add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. Add the ginger and stir-fry until aromatic. Put the crab pieces into the wok and quickly stir a few times before adding the sauce. Add the chopped scallions, toss the crab in the wok a few times until well coated with the sauce, dish out and serve immediately.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size
4 peopleAmount Per Serving Calories 68Total Fat 4gSaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 1mgSodium 143mgCarbohydrates 8gFiber 1gSugar 1gProtein 1g
Daphne
Hi I loved the recipe. It turned out fabulously delicious. I added a bit of crushed garlic as I had no scallions.
Thanks !
Rasa Malaysia
That’s awesome. Please try more recipes on my site!
Michelle
I have never cooked crab before, but my family would always order this at the local Chinese restaurant. Never in a million years did I thought I’d because to make this… I didn’t fry the crab because it was already cooked (we caught it fresh and had to boil it before it died as we weren’t ready to eat it that night we caught it). So I pan fried it with the sauce and it was DELICIOUS. Tastes just like the restaurant one we order!
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Michelle, that’s great to know. Yes, all my recipes taste like restaurants and very easy. Please try more. https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
purpslip
Finger lickin’ good! My family loved it
Rasa Malaysia
Awesome please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Debbie
I haven’t tried this recipe out but it looks amazing and delicious. In my family we’ve used a similar recipe for years and it just makes the crab so much better than a bland butter sauce. We also use curry or masala and sometimes a lot of hot peppers. Thanks for sharing the recipe and for creating this beautiful blog!
Cindy Nichols
Looks really delicious and I plan to make it–but don’t you have to clean the inside of the body before cooking? Guts etc.?
Rasa Malaysia
You can get the fish monger to clean up the crab and chop them into pieces for you.
Mary Bostow
Such an educational post! I’ve never attempted cooking crab in the kitchen, but this is definitely encouraging me to try.
Jacinta
I made this today. It was delicious. I added some good glutinous rice wine and garlic.
The fantastic thing about this recipe and others by RasaMalaysia is that it is simple and yet GOOD.Thank you
Voan
This is a fantastic recipe! Can not go wrong!
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks Voan.