The star of this dish is crab. Crab, cooked in a rich stock made of fish bones and a mirepoix, with some thick rice vermicelli (aka Bee Hoon) and chinese cabbage. Conveniently, Ah Hua Kelong supplies the two principal ingredients – great crab, and fish bones!
Overview
I knew the crab will be brimming with roe. Such a lovely crab could be simply steamed, but I wanted some nice, comforting soup. By simmering the crab in a rich fish broth, I thought I made good use of the crab. The rich stock preserves the sweetness of the crab. All the juices from the crab go into the stock, whatever roe does fall off just enriches the soup.
I fry the fish bones as I think it really adds a dimension of flavour. This recipe takes time but its not hard to do, most of the cooking time is unattended.
Ingredients (for two)
- Two fish bones
- One crab (or two, hahaha. In this case it was a 600g crab for two)
- One chinese cabbage (aka Wong Bok, Da Bai Cai)
- A mirepoix – carrots, celery, tough stems from Chinese cabbage
- Seasonings – Shao Xing wine, sesame oil, fish sauce
- Coarse Bee Hoon, in my case about 300g, fresh (the big fat ones. I got mine fresh from the wet market)
- Oh. Brandy, if you like. Make it VSOP or XO, if you feel rich 🙂
That’s about it
Make Soup!
Roughly chop up carrots, celery, or whatever is on hand. Prepare a stockpot of boiling water and toss the mirepoix in.
Now, on to the fish bones. They came with the head, super fresh, very clean.
In the case, I wanted to use the heads for something else, so I used just the bones.
The important part is to fry the fish bones with some slices of ginger – I find this enhances the richness of the stock and helps a lot.
You need to brown the bones a little. Add a splash of Shao Xing Wine..
I repeat. CAREFULLY add some Shao Xing Wine. The bones should brown on both sides.
Like so. Add in a dash of sesame oil right at the end, and the bones are ready for their bath.
Do deglaze the pan with some of the hot soup in the pot. Stuck to the bottom of the frying pan are nuggets of flavour! Now, let it all simmer.
The longer you can simmer, the better things get. I say one hour at least, up the three hours. See how the soup turns this natural, cloudy hue? I didn’t add milk. Now strain the soup.
And be sure to catch every last drop!
You are now ready!
The crab
I have to leave the part about preparing (i.e. killing) a live crab to another post.
The crab here is know as a green mud crab (Scylla serrata). They live in the mud of the mangroves found throughout the tropics. The have thick shells, but have delicious flesh in the claws and body. This crab was delivered alive and very active, by Ah Hua Kelong.
These guys bring in the crabs from Sri Lanka, then fatten them at their kelong. For three weeks, the crabs are fed bait fish and shell fish (good stuff!). The objective is to make them full of roe. And just look at that!
I must say my heart leap with joy at this sight! I was very careful to handle this with great care, so that I do not lose any of that golden roe. All I did was to carefully remove the gills.
Assembly
The leaves of the Chinese Cabbage, and blanched Bee Hoon is added to the soup.
And in goes crabby.
The roe cooks almost at once.
You see the soup getting better. The top shell goes in …
And I simmered just long enough for it all to turn a wonderful red! Check taste. If it’s not salty enough, I suggest a good quality fish sauce.
There is so much roe, you can see it spilling out under the shell! I suggest : enjoy this with sake. Add brandy to the soup!
All that is left to do is eat!
Additional Notes
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This is an independent review of the products used/establishments mentioned. No freebies!
Ah Hua Kelong is a fish farm in Singapore that does home deliveries of excellent seafood : sea bass, groupers, and a variety of shellfish and crabs.
About the soup – it can be enriched with more goodies. Like conpoy (dried scallops), dried cuttlefish, or… if you can get your hands on some dried flatfish, it will be wonderful! It just depends on what the occasion is! Oh, I really like soup!
On the fish bones/heads – I didn’t use the heads in the stock this time. I find it hard to brown the bones properly if the heads are on, so in any case I want to separate them. I have another use for the heads…..
Brandy will lift this soup to the next level. Add a little. Or a lot.
Once the crab is in the pot, I was very gentle – I tried to keep the roe intact. Notice I put the top shell in upside down, so the roe cooks and sets, before turning over.
On the chinese cabbage – l like to cut off all the tough stems, and toss that into the soup. You will be amazed how much sweetness it adds. Allow the stems to simmer till soft and translucent. I use only the tender leaves to serve with the soup.