Born and raised in Vinh Lap commune (Thanh Ha district, Hai Duong province), since childhood, Ms. Tieu Thi Thanh Thao has been attached to crabs and clams. When she grew up, settled down and lived in Quang Trung ward (Hai Duong city), Ms. Thao still remembers the rustic dishes made from field crabs.
Rustic crab hotpot with a strong country flavor is very easy to prepare.
Crab hotpot - delicious and easy to make dish
Born and raised in Vinh Lap commune (Thanh Ha district, Hai Duong province), since childhood, Ms. Tieu Thi Thanh Thao has been attached to crabs and clams. When she grew up, settled down and lived in Quang Trung ward (Hai Duong city), Ms. Thao still remembers the rustic dishes made from field crabs.
Therefore, she often makes traditional dishes from crab such as crab soup, crab soup... Recently, she has been experimenting with making crab hotpot to treat her family whenever she has the chance.
Ms. Thao said that crabs are available all year round and are sold in many markets, so every weekend she buys them to cook. One time, she went to a restaurant and had a very attractive crab hotpot, so she immediately learned the recipe and made it herself.
According to Ms. Thao, the way to make crab hotpot is similar to cooking crab soup, but the crab hotpot is eaten with some other dipping ingredients (depending on each person's preference) such as vegetables, shrimp, minced pork, beef, etc. The crabs are washed to remove mud, the shell is separated, the apron is removed, and the crab roe is scooped out into a separate bowl. The crab meat is crushed or ground, and the water is filtered.
The next step is to put the pan on the stove, heat the cooking oil, then add the shallots and saute until fragrant, add the tomatoes and stir well. Add a little sugar to create a beautiful golden color, then add the crab paste and stir for about 5 minutes, then turn off the stove, pour the mixture into a bowl. Then put the pot on the stove, add the filtered crab broth to the pot, add seasoning powder, MSG, and seasoning powder to taste, then simmer until the crab paste floats to the surface, then turn off the stove, use a spoon to scoop the crab paste out and set aside.
After scooping out the crab paste, turn on the stove to simmer and then pour the tomato mixture and stir-fried crab paste into the pot. To create a light, sweet taste and the characteristic aroma of the crab hotpot, Ms. Thao adds star fruit or tamarind, a few crushed lemongrass stalks and then simmers for 10 minutes. Ms. Thao's family often prepares fried tofu slices and fried onions to make the hotpot more attractive.
“The hot pot is boiled over low heat, dipped with vegetables such as perilla, lettuce, Malabar spinach, water spinach, banana flowers. You can add beef, pork paste, shrimp... very suitable. The hot pot is also delicious when eaten with vermicelli and rice paper,” Ms. Thao shared.
Customers enjoy crab hotpot at Xu Dong crab restaurant (Hai Duong city).
Mr. Pham Van Trong, Manager of Xu Dong Crab Hotpot Restaurant on Ngo Quyen Street (Hai Duong City) said that crab hotpot is currently prepared by many restaurants in Hai Duong City.
In addition to the abundant ingredients available in Thanh Ha, Tu Ky, Ninh Giang, Thanh Mien, etc., this dish is also simple and easy to make. However, each place and each person has a different way of preparing and seasoning the spices to create different flavors according to their preferences.
To make a crab hotpot with the right flavor, the most important step is the raw crab. Crabs must be large, even, firm, and alive. When pounding or grinding the crab, add a little salt so that the crab fat floats evenly during cooking. The hotpot water, in addition to being filtered from crab meat, is also purified from pork or chicken bone broth. The main seasonings are white salt, MSG, and fish sauce.
According to Mr. Trong, to make the crab hotpot attractive and eye-catching, when simmering the crab roe, tomatoes are definitely needed to create color. When boiling the crab hotpot, add sour star fruit or fresh tamarind to make it taste fresh, and add fried tofu.
Vegetables used for hot pot in restaurants are usually squash (seasonal), shredded squash, water spinach, jute mallow and some spices such as perilla, fresh green onions, bean sprouts, lettuce, etc.
Hai Duong specialties attract customers
Field crabs used to make hot pot must be large, even, firm, and alive.
From traditional crab soup and crab hotpot, now field crab hotpot has become a popular dish in both urban and rural areas.
Because the ingredients are readily available, this dish is popular all year round, but is most suitable in winter. In the cold weather, everyone gathers around a pot of field crab hotpot, enjoying a rustic dish with a strong hometown flavor.
“If we cook soup or sour soup, we can eat very little vegetables, so sometimes on weekends, my family organizes a crab hotpot. The crab is delicious, the familiar rustic flavor is eaten with dipping sauces such as vegetables, beef, young cartilage, raw pork paste, etc., very attractive,” said Ms. Pham Thi Bien on Tran Van Giap Street (Hai Duong City).
On cold winter days, most restaurants with crab hotpot are very popular. Mr. Pham Van Trong, Manager of Xu Dong crab hotpot restaurant, added that in addition to crab hotpot, the restaurant also has other types of hotpot such as seafood hotpot, mixed hotpot... but most of the customers coming to the restaurant choose crab hotpot.
Mr. Dinh Dai Duong on Ngo Quyen Street (Hai Duong City, Hai Duong Province) occasionally comes to the restaurant to eat crab hotpot and says that crab hotpot is delicious and nutritious.
Every time he eats, he is attracted by the sweet taste of the hotpot broth, the golden color of the crab fat, and the aroma of fried onions. That rustic, country-style flavor lingers forever.
Source: https://danviet.vn/dac-san-hai-duong-con-cua-dong-dao-hang-la-liet-bat-ve-lam-lau-ca-lang-khen-ngon-van-nguoi-me-20241226093105896.htm
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