Crab and Vegetable Hotpot Recipe

Crab and Vegetable Hotpot Recipe

(Korean Recipes)

1kg fresh flower crabs or crab claws

20 clams (150g), soaked in lightly salted water for 20 minutes,

  and scrubbed with a brush

2 tablespoons soybean paste

1 tablespoon chili bean paste

7 cups water

200g daikon radish (about 3-inch), halved lengthwise and quartered

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 slices ginger, minced

1 tablespoon ground red pepper

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1½ teaspoons salt

1-2 red or green chilies, de-seeded and sliced

1 small leek, white part only, thinly sliced

2 bunches chrysanthemum greens or Chinese celery leaves, sliced

Method:

Clean and quarter the crabs.  Crack open the crab claws to allow the flavors to penetrate.  Mix the soybean and chili bean paste with 1 cup water, then mash and strain into a large pot.  Add the remaining water to the pot and simmer over medium high heat for 5 minutes.  Add the daikon, crab, soy sauce and ginger to the boiling stock, and simmer for 7-10 minutes on medium high heat.  Add the red pepper, salt and clams, stir and simmer for another 3 minutes, or until the clams are cooked and the shells open.  Add the chilies, leek and chrysanthemum greens or Chinese celery leaves, and leave to cook for another minute.  Remove from the heat and serve with rice and pan-fried sweet green chili or other fried foods.  Fresh crabs can be substituted with precooked crab claws or jumbo shrimps.  If using, add this into the pot during the last 3 minutes of cooking.  If using live crabs such as Dungeness or mudcrabs, put a crab on a chopping board belly-side up.  Place a heavy knife over its belly and hit the knife with a mallet to cut through the crab.  (Be careful when handling live crabs as its pincers and claws can leave you with a very nasty wound).  Lift the triangular-shaped "apron" on the underside of the crab.  Insert your thumb between the body and topshell at the rear of crab, and pull the carapace off.  Discard the grey gills and any green or spongy grey matter on the body.  Clean thoroughly, then rinse and drain.  Quarter the crabs and crack the claws so the flavors can penetrate.