Esther Choi’s Crab Fried Rice 🔥

Crab Fried Rice with a crispy rice bottom and decadent crab butter is a favorite at Esther’s restaurants for a REASON 😍 #24in24

Get the recipe:

Crab Fried Rice
Recipe courtesy of Esther Choi
Level: Advanced
Total: 40 min
Active: 30 min
Yield: 2 to 4 servings

Ingredients

One 2- to 3-pound live crab, preferably Dungeness crab
2 cups cold cooked white rice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/4 cup finely sliced white parts of scallions (save the greens for another use)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon Crab Butter, recipe follows, optional
1 large egg (see Cook’s Note)

Directions

To cook the crab, add water to a pot fitted with a steamer rack insert, ensuring the water isn’t touching the insert. Bring the water to a boil, place the crab on the rack, cover and steam for 10 minutes. Using tongs, remove the crab from the steamer and set aside. The crab will continue to cook as it cools.

When cool enough to handle, turn the crab on its back. Break off and remove the mouth pieces. Use your hands to pry off the top shell, keeping all the creamy juices in the shell. Using a spoon, scrape any extra juices from the bottom half of the crab into the top shell, then pour all the juices in the top shell in a bowl to save for the Crab Butter. Reserve the top shell for serving the rice.

Scrape out and discard the gills. Using kitchen shears, cut the crab in half to extract meat from the body, then use the scissors to cut through the leg shells lengthwise so you can peel off the shell and pick out the leg meat. You should have about 1 cup cooked meat. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Meanwhile, break up the cold rice into smaller chunks for even cooking and set aside (see Cook’s Note).

Place a large (10-inch) cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat (see Cook’s Note). Add the vegetable oil. Add the onion and cook until slightly soft, about 2 minutes, then stir in the garlic, ginger and scallion whites. Cook, stirring often, adjusting the heat if anything might burn, until aromatic, about 30 seconds.

Add the oyster sauce and cook until the sauce caramelizes slightly, another 30 seconds. Stir in the fish sauce. Add the rice, using a wooden spoon or a spatula to break up the kernels. Add the sesame oil, half the reserved crab meat and the Crab Butter, if using, and stir well.

Using a wooden spoon or spatula, make a well in the center of the pan for the egg. Break up the egg and scramble it in the center of the pan. (At the restaurant mŏkbar in New York City, we scramble the egg in the crab shell tableside for dramatic flair). Stir the scrambled egg into the rice and crab.
Turn the heat to low and let the rice gently cook for a minute to get crispy (see Cook’s Note). Add the remaining crab meat on top of the rice. You can serve the rice in the crab shell.

Cook’s Note
Start with cold, cooked rice and stir it to break up the kernels to prevent lumps. If you have had success at home frying rice in a stainless-steel pan, you can use it as well. You don’t always have to add an egg, but I like to. To make the bottom of the rice crispy, turn the heat as low as it goes and leave the rice in the pan for up to a minute before serving. It allows any extra moisture to evaporate.

Categories: Food

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