Chinese-style Spicy Crayfish
It's hot June, do you know what is popular in China right now? Just like people in the southern US, Chinese really love crayfish. This time of year, when you see a small party of people together, you'll see that they're sure to choose crayfish on the menu. Spicy crayfish paired with a cold beer, makes a wonderful summer night. This recipe uses a pre-mixed spice packet for Chinese Spicy Crayfish. If you want to make your own from scratch, then you can use doubanjiang bean paste and chili, with a combination of chili oil, Sichuan peppercorns and spices (star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon). These ingredients are used to make the base for Sichuan hot pot, so you can also use a pre-mixed hot pot soup base.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg live crayfish (3.3 pounds)
- 200 g crayfish seasoning pack (7 oz)
- 2 cucumbers
- 500 ml high alcohol beer (8% by volume) (18 oz)
- 300 ml water (11 oz)
- 50 ml salt (3 tbsp + 1 tsp)
- 20 ml vinegar (1 tbsp + 1 tsp)
- 100 ml oil (3.5 oz, or 6 tbsp + 2 tsp)https://youtu.be/aaNlxllTKpI
Instructions
Preparation
- Place the crayfish in the sink or large stainless steel pot and add 30ml of salt and 20ml of vinegar. Add enough water to cover the crayfish, stir and let the salt and vinegar mix in the water. Soak for 20-30 minutes.
- Clean the crayfish. Remove the head, internal organs, vein, and gills of the crayfish. Finally wash all the treated crayfish. Drain. Set aside.
- Cut the cucumber into chunks.
Cooking
- Add 100ml of oil to the pan, heat over medium heat for 10 seconds and then add the crayfish and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the seasoning packet and stir-fry well. Pour in 500ml of beer and 300ml of water. Bring to a boil over high heat.
- After bringing to a boil, add salt. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Then add the cucumber and stir well. Cook for 10-13 minutes.
- You can garnish with some coriander or green onions to your liking.
Video
Notes
- Soaking crayfish with salt and vinegar is used to better clean the crayfish and kill any bacteria. Because crayfish live in silt, ordinary water may not be adequate.
- Cut the cucumber into your preferred shape, but be careful not to cut it too small. After a long time of cooking, small pieces of cucumbers will become very soft.
- If you have a lot of crayfish. It is better to use a large pot, you can see that the crayfish in my picture is almost overflowing my 14-inch wok, causing me to have to divide into 2 parts for cooking.
- Regarding the salt added, you can season it to your own taste, because the spice package itself is already salty.
- During a long medium-heat cooking, the beer flavor is almost completely evaporated, and if you like the beer flavor, you can swap the added water for beer. Or use a slightly higher alcohol concentration.
- During crayfish season in the US, you can find live crayfish in better groceries throughout the southern US, or have them shipped in ice overnight. Outside the season, you can find frozen crayfish tails in the seafood section of better groceries. Be sure, if you buy frozen crayfish, they are still raw and not cooked.
Nutrition
Calories: 1284kcalCarbohydrates: 31gProtein: 37gFat: 98gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 27gMonounsaturated Fat: 60gTrans Fat: 0.4gCholesterol: 247mgSodium: 24140mgPotassium: 1384mgFiber: 4gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 522IUVitamin C: 20mgCalcium: 221mgIron: 4mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!