Curried Crab Rice Noodle Soup

Serves 4

Dungeness Crab with Curry is one of the most amazing flavour combinations. Yellow curry with coconut milk and fresh sweet crab is heavenly. If fresh Dungeness crab isn’t available you can use other fresh crab meat or even the canned crab that you find at Costco or TJ’s and other better markets.

1 Live Crab (1 3/4 #+) (Dungeness if available)
1 15 oz. can Coconut Milk-Chaokoh or Mae Ploy (freshly made is best of course)
1/1/2 Tbs. Light Soy Sauce (Kikkoman Lite Soy)
1 1/2 Tbs. Oyster Sauce (Golden Boy)
1 Tbs. Thai Curry Powder (not Indian!)
1 Tbs. Peanut Oil
8-10 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
1 large white Onion, cut into bite size wedges
3 Green Onions (scallions), finely sliced
2+ tbs. of Yellow Curry Paste to taste (Lobo or Mae Sri Brands are good or make your own)
1 beaten egg
8 ounces medium-width dry rice noodles soaked in hot water for 20 minutes to soften
Hot water (approximately 1-3 cups)
1 Thai Dragon Chile, seeds removed and finely diced for garnish * optional
A few Cilantro leaves for garnish

Method:

Put live crab in boiling water until cooked (approximately 5 minutes, or until the shell turns bright red. Clean the crab by removing the top of the shell, lungs and other undesirable parts*. Pull the legs away from the body – crack the body into quarters and use a nutcracker or similar implement to crack the legs (even a hammer/mallet will do). Remove the meat from the body for the soup. (Reserve leg meat as garnish for the soup.)

Fry the yellow curry paste and powder in the cream part of the coconut milk until fragrant. Add the remainder of the coconut milk, light soy sauce, and oyster sauce. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok. Stir fry the onion, then add the garlic and stir fry over medium heat until light brown (do not burn, as it will become bitter). Add the coconut-curry mixture to the curry and onions, then the drained rice noodles, continue stir frying for another 1-2 minutes . I like using a spaghetti claw for this to easily turn and coat the noodles. Add the beaten egg stirring continuously. Add the crab, continue stirring lightly to heat the crab. Add hot water to desired soupiness . Add the green onions and toss.

To serve: Place noodles, broth and crab into soup bowls. Garnish with crab leg meat, cilantro leaves, and minced chiles, if desired.



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