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Ginger and Scallion Crab - This delicious and easy Chinese recipe makes restaurant-worthy ginger and scallion Dungeness crab at home.
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.
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 (such as ginger scallion fish), ginger and scallion chicken or ginger scallion beef.
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!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
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. ;)
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is only 68 calories per serving.
What To Serve With This Recipe
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Other Crab Recipes You Might Like
Ginger and Scallion Crab
Ingredients
- 1 crab, about 1 1/2 – 2 pounds (0.6 kg-1 kg)
- 2 inches (5cm) ginger, peeled and sliced into 10-12 pieces
- 3 stalks scallion, cut into 2-inch length (5 cm)
- 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 cornstarch
- 1/8 teaspoon fish sauce
Instructions
- Mix the Sauce ingredients and set them aside.
- Clean the crab and cut it into pieces. Pat dry with paper towels and place in a large bowl. Add the cornstarch to the bowl and lightly coat the crab pieces with it. Heat a wok and add cooking oil.
- When the oil is hot, add the crab pieces and deep-fry them. As soon as they turn red, remove them from the oil, strain off the excess oil, and set aside.
- Heat a wok and add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. Add the ginger and stir-fry until aromatic. Then, add the crab pieces to the wok and stir briefly before adding the sauce.
- Add the chopped scallions and toss the crab in the wok a few times until well coated with the sauce. Dish out and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’ve made this so many times now!! My boyfriend loves it. He helps me clean, cut, and fry the crab now. Now we make it for our family and they all love it. I add extra ginger and green scallion because we love it. Now I also add regular onion and jalepeno as well. Thank you for this easy and delicious recipe!! Better than crabs served at restaurants and cheaper too!! :)
Hi I loved the recipe. It turned out fabulously delicious. I added a bit of crushed garlic as I had no scallions.
Thanks !
That’s awesome. Please try more recipes on my site!
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!
Hi Michelle, that’s great to know. Yes, all my recipes taste like restaurants and very easy. Please try more. https://www.666630.xyz/recipe-index-gallery/
Finger lickin’ good! My family loved it
Awesome please try more recipes on my site: https://www.666630.xyz/recipe-index-gallery/
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!
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.?
You can get the fish monger to clean up the crab and chop them into pieces for you.
Such an educational post! I’ve never attempted cooking crab in the kitchen, but this is definitely encouraging me to try.
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
This is a fantastic recipe! Can not go wrong!
Thanks Voan.