Kani Nanbanzuke (Japanese Blue Claw Crab Side Dish)
A cascade of blue claws this year has me cleaning and freezing them around the clock (I remove the stomach before freezing and scrub, so that they don’t have a fishy flavor due to crabs being scavengers.) Nanbanzuke is an easy Japanese side dish most commonly made with fish or chicken. First fried, then marinated in a sweet and sour soy based sauce with thinly sliced vegetables, it’s a refreshingly tasty dish to pair with rice.
A good friend of my mom’s who used to live in Japan taught her how to make the fish version, which is what this is based off of. I haven’t seen a crab recipe of this out there, which is unfortunate because it turned out quite delicious, albeit slightly more work than a traditional Chinese sautéed crab.
I found the super fresh crab that I pulled up this week all have thin and crispy shells, which makes lightly dusting them in cornstarch and frying them extra delicious—some parts are so crispy they can be eaten as well. They taste even better the next day, with a hot bowl of freshly steamed rice.
Ingredients
- 1/2 dozen blue claw crabs, cleaned and halved
- Cornstarch, for dredging
- 1/2 cup vegetable or corn oil
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup dashi stock (or water, if you don’t have dashi)
- 3 tablespoons sake
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 cup shredded onion
- 1/2 cup shredded carrot (optional)
- 1/2 cup shredded bell pepper
- 2-3 lemon/lime slices
- Combine dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar in a saucepan. Simmer until sugar has dissolved and alcohol has burned off. Allow to cool and place shredded pepper, onion, carrot, and lime/lemon slices in the sauce.
- Dredge crab in corn starch, and fry in oil over medium high heat until fully cooked and dredging is golden.
- Marinate in sauce and serve.