Mimic the appearance, texture and rich taste of crab roe by making use of unlikely culinary friends. Includes instructions on how to handle Chinese salted duck eggs.
Time: 3/5
Would be even quicker if I didn’t need to wait for the salted eggs to cook.
Effort: 3/5
Minimal knife work for a lot of meals!
Fake it / Make it
You may be familiar with the sweet taste and delicate texture of crab meat, but I’ve never seen the rich and buttery crab roe being used outside of Asian cooking. Which is a pity, because the fatty roe of mitten crabs (also known as hairy crabs) are considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.
The issue is that crabs are pretty expensive – especially the fresh, live crabs that are the best for eating. Another problem is that crabs only have good roe during Autumn, so you’re out of luck if it’s not the right season.
Fortunately, there’s a way around that if you have some imitation crab sticks and salted eggs. The imitation crab resembles the colour and texture of crab meat (especially if you tear it up into small slivers), and you can get something close to the appearance and texture of crab roe by combining the richness of salted egg yolks with the colour of diced carrots.
Lastly, salted egg whites add salinity and savouriness that, when combined with the other elements of the dish, somehow results in a surprisingly crab-like flavour through some synergistic magic that I don’t pretend to understand.
This is also the first time I’ve written about Chinese salted eggs on this blog, so perhaps I should go into some detail. They’re typically made by submerging duck eggs in a salty brine, but I get mine from the store.
They come with a layer of dirt that you have to wash off, and you have to cook them before you use them (I just stick mine in the rice cooker while the rice is cooking). But once that’s done, you’re in business for a rich, savoury umami bomb that you can use to enhance a bowl of noodles, make sticky rice dumplings (zongzi), or in the case of this recipe to mimic crab roe.
You’ll notice that I added ground pork to this stew, in addition to the tofu. It’s not traditional and it doesn’t play any part in the crab mimicry, but having just the tofu alone is not enough protein or calories for my nutritional goals at this moment. Feel free to ignore the ground pork if you’re cooking just for taste.
Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 0
Dramatis Personae
Served 4.
- 200g imitation crab sticks
- 3 salted duck eggs
- 600g silken tofu
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- 600g ground pork
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 shallots, minced
- Cornstarch slurry to taste
Also served with 600g of broccolini.
Executive summary
- Nestle the cleaned salted eggs into the rice and start the rice cooker.
- Tear the imitation crab sticks into small pieces. Dice the carrots finely.
- The salted eggs are cooked once the rice is done. Peel off the shells.
- Stir fry ground beef until no longer pink, then add peeled salted eggs. Break up and mix in the salted egg with a spatula.
- Add the diced carrot and imitation crab sticks. Add water to cover, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Taste and adjust for seasoning. Thicken with a corn starch slurry if desired, and add the silken tofu.
- The cooking is done once the pot is at a simmer again. Plate up and serve.
Play by Play
Last things first. I started the rice cooker with the salted eggs nestled in the rice, so they can cook together. I extracted the eggs, and let them cook down before peeling them.
Always eat your veggies! I cook the broccolini in the same dishwasher-safe skillet that I’ll use later, to cut down on dishes. This might delay dinner for like 15 minutes, but it’s worth the wait for the savings in effort.
While I wait for the vegetables to cook, I got my knife work done. Commendation to the missus for the the very fine dice on the carrots.
All set for the action. Pork goes into a hot and oiled pan, followed by the aromatics and the salted eggs.
Break the eggs up real good, to release the rich goodness of the yolks.
I get some more breathing room again after the imitation crab and water go in. I let it simmer while I did some cleaning up. Make sure the sauce has the taste and texture that you like before the tofu goes in, because you don’t want to stir it too much after that. I thickened it up with maybe 2 teaspoons of cornstarch.
Once the tofu is warmed through, it’s ready to serve! Ladle over rice and enjoy.
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