Chinese Stir Fry Eggs with Flaked Crab Meat 蟹肉炒蛋

By Ellen L. Published: 2017-05-17

This deceptively simple looking egg dish is a fancy dinner party dish in comforting disguise.  You start with a familiar Chinese comfort food, the tenderly folded stir fry egg (see our Tomato Egg Stir Fry 蕃茄炒蛋 recipe and Shrimp & Eggs Stir Fry 蝦仁炒蛋 recipe for more traditional takes on egg stir fry) and pair with something fabulously posh like crab meat and WHAMMO!  You've got yourself a dish you could serve an Empress!

This Chinese Stir Fry Eggs with Flaked Crab Meat 蟹肉炒蛋 is one of those food matches made in heaven: tender just set egg perfectly complemented by the delectable bits of sea sweet, soft crab meat tucked gently into the golden folds.   A royally yummilicious dish to treat family and friends to!

You can, of course, use whatever fresh crab you can find.  We got lucky cuz my 老公' s ma came back from Vancouver with a huge bag full of Dungeness Crab.  Oh my gosh these are my absolute favorite crabs in the world!  So much soft, sweet almost peach flavored fragrant meat inside, it's crazy!  We would really recommend Dungeness Crab for this dish, it pairs perfectly with the tender egg.  

To cook the crab you just need to boil it whole in a pot full of water,  let it cool and then crack the shell open and pick the meat out of the crab.  There is debate between the boiling vs steaming of crabs and we have found that boiling is better.  It keeps the crab meat juicy and smooth.

You can use crab tools to help you get the meat out more easily.  

There are plenty of kinds of crabs that have sweet delicious meat.  But remember it's got to be fresh, otherwise you're not going to have the sea fresh sweetness that is the essence and magic of crab.  And keep in mind that since you are going to be picking out all the crab meat, larger crab is better because larger crab means more meat which means easier pickings!

(It's not so bad to be the one to pick out all the crab meat cuz you can secretly eat half the yummy meat at the same time!)

The other half of this simple and splendid dish is the egg.  As always with simple dishes, the quality of the ingredients in a simple dish is what makes the difference between ho-hum and spectacular.  So for the crab, it must be fresh, fresh, fresh.  

And for the egg, it must be good quality egg.  Hummm...what would define a good quality egg, you may be thinking?  Freshness again!  The fresher the egg, the better the taste, we think.  So we get our super fresh free range eggs from the wet market, or, lately, we've been really impressed with the lovely fresh eggs from Japan.

The egg is ready to receive the crab meat at this stage.

The only technical part of this dish is the stir frying of the eggs.  These Chinese stir fry eggs beat any scrambled eggs I've ever tasted.  But you got to be fast as Flash.  A second or so too long and your eggs are going to be overcooked.  

Add oil, then pour in eggs.  Let cook for a moment or two until you can see the bottom layer is firming up.  Use your spatula to sweep the egg towards you and up the side of the wok* where the cooked egg will set in tender folds.  The uncooked egg, meanwhile, will run back towards the bottom of the wok naturally and continue cooking.  Repeat until all the eggs are just set barely set which takes under a minute.  See, not hard, just fast.

*This is where an old fashioned style curved wok is invaluable.  It allows you to cook on the bottom and keep hot up on the sides.  I love my wok!

That's all there is too this dish, folks.  But trust me, it's a WOW kind of dish.  Save it for when you want to impress food loving friends and family.  A bit of work with the crab meat but you won't regret it, I promise.

Chinese Stir Fry Eggs w/ Flaked Crab Meat

蝦仁炒蛋

Prep time: 15 mins   Cook time: 10 mins   

Ingredients:

• 1 large fresh crab, or 2 small fresh crabs
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp spring onion, chopped in rounds

Directions:

Cook crab by dropping in a large pot of boiling water and boil 8 mins/lb.  Allow the crab to cool, then remove the meat from the shell, using a fork to flake any large pieces of crab meat.

Whisk the eggs gently until just mixed.  Add salt and whisk.  Heat wok over medium heat until just smoking and add 2 tbsp oil.

Pour in the egg.  Have a spatula ready.  Once the eggs have cooked on the bottom most layer (which will be really fast) use your spatula to gently pull all the cooked egg towards you and up the side of your wok, shaking the spatula gently and tilting the pan a bit so that any uncooked egg will run off back towards the center of the wok.  The egg should gather in delicate folds up the side of your wok.  Wait a few seconds and then repeat.  

When you have just one layer of egg left to cook (see photo of cooking eggs above), immediately add the crab meat in, fold the eggs from the side of the wok over the crab meat, turn off your heat, and use your spatula to gently break up to bite sized chunks and immediately remove to serving platter.  Do not over cook!  Remember that the egg will continue to cook and remove from heat while still slightly runny.

Top with spring onion rounds and serve right away.  Enjoy!

Crabbiliciousness at The Hong Kong Cookery:

Steamed Hairy Crab 清蒸大閘蟹

Chinese Crab Sauce Noodles 蟹肉醬麵

Soy Sauce Pickled Crab 醬油醃蟹

Stir Fry Crabs w/ Ginger & Scallions 姜葱蟹

Steamed Crab 清蒸花蟹 

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