Steaming is the whole recipe; the seasoning lives in the dip. Three kinds of shellfish go into the steamer over already-boiling water, and a little ground ginger dusted over the crab takes the edge off its chill. While the steam finishes, garlic and fresh chilies hit hot oil, then land in a bowl of oyster sauce and seafood soy sauce, and everyone dips their own.
Chinese · Main
Steamed Crab, Shrimp and Lobster With a Garlic Chili Dip
A whole crab, half a kilo of shrimp and a lobster go into a steamer over boiling water, while a dip of fried garlic, chilies and seafood soy comes together in the last minutes.
- Prep15 min
- Cook20 min
- Serves4
- LevelEasy
Ingredients
| 1 | swimming crab |
| 500 g | shrimp |
| 1 | lobster |
| a little | ground ginger , dusted over the crab |
| 6 cloves | garlic , minced |
| a few | bird's eye chilies |
| 3 tbsp | seafood soy sauce |
| 2 tbsp | oyster sauce |
| 2 tbsp | cooking oil , for frying the aromatics |
Method
- Set a steamer of water boiling, then arrange the crab and shrimp inside and start steaming; add the lobster with them.
- Dust the crab with ground ginger before the lid goes on.
- Steam everything until cooked through, then lift the seafood out and arrange it on a large platter.
- In the last few minutes of steaming, heat the cooking oil in a small pan.
- Fry the bird's eye chilies in the hot oil, then add the minced garlic and let both toast briefly.
- Put the oyster sauce in a small serving bowl and pour the hot chili garlic oil over it.
- Add the seafood soy sauce to the bowl and stir the dip together.
- Serve the platter with the dip alongside.
Notes
- Start the water boiling before anything goes in; a slow start makes shrimp mealy before the crab is done.
- Fry the garlic only until it smells toasted. Burnt garlic turns the whole dip bitter.
Ratios and technique checked against 薯条沾腐乳 on Douguo (清蒸海鲜). The method here is written by Stellaok; the photograph is the source kitchen's, credited on the image above and linked back to the page it came from. No recipe text is reproduced.