The Cook’s Kitchen

This is a dish that reminds me that less can be more. With a few ingredients and some light chopping, you’ll have a simple and elegant dish that allows the delicious flavor of crab to shine. Known in Vietnamese as Miến Xào Cua, I enjoy having this for lunch or as part of a dinner meal. You can purchase good-quality lump crab meat or steam a fresh crab as I did, and pick apart the meat.

I used baby leeks instead of shallots or green onions this time as I love the color and subtle onion flavor they lend to the dish.

INGREDIENTS: (2-4 servings)

• 2 bundles of miến (glass noodles), soaked in lukewarm water for about 20 minutes
• 1 cup of black “wood-ear” mushrooms, soaked in lukewarm water for about 30 minutes, thinly sliced
• 1 cup of baby leeks, thoroughly cleaned and thinly sliced on the bias (discard the tough green tops, or save it for use in making stock)
• 1 cup of chopped red bell pepper
• meat from 1 whole, steamed crab (approx. 1 cup)
• crab tomalley
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbl. fish sauce + more to taste
• fresh ground pepper
• oil, for cooking

STEPS:

• In a colander or sieve, drain the glass noodles, set aside.
• In a small bowl, combine the egg, tomalley and fish sauce, set aside.
• In a wok or deep skillet heated to med-high, add about 1-2 Tbl. of oil.
• Stir in the leeks and cook until slightly translucent, approx.2-3 minutes
• Next, add the red bell pepper and mushrooms and stir-fry for about 1-2 minutes
• Now, add the glass noodles and stir-fry 1-2 minutes. The noodles should be translucent.
• Pour the egg + tomalley mixture over the noodles and quickly stir fry until the eggs are cooked, between 2-4 minutes.
• Gently fold the crab meat into the noodles and combine. Sprinkle fresh cracked pepper and serve warm.