Crab Fried Rice

You can see the seafood theme from these past few posts.  My sister taught me this dish when she was still living up in Ohio living in her cute little apartment.  Us Tso sisters, we like - scratch - love to eat.  Seriously, a good portion of our conversations revolve around food.  The night we made this, we cooked a huge pot hoping for leftovers the next day for lunch.  We should have known better  because within 20 minutes, the entire pot of crab fried rice - GONE.  No, we didnt just have one bowl, not just two bowls, but we each had three bowls.  Not sure what got into us that night but man, we had a nice little pot belly that night and I would change it for anything!

As for the crab, it's a option of whether you use the canned crab meat (gasp, I know...) or the fresh lump crab from the seafood section.  If I could afford the fresh lump crab every time I make this dish, I would but alas, with a working PR girl budget, I must work with the canned crab.  It's okay, just use two cans and it is still pretty good.

Also, make your rice several hours before so it's not too sticky when you mix together or you can even use day old rice which sometimes works better!  Additionally, don't nix the cucumber slices.  It makes a huge difference - having a bit of crisp cucumber is so refreshing and complements the rice so well.

Crab Fried Rice

Recipe from my sister

1 pint fresh lump crab or 2 cans of crab

3 tbspn veg. oil (do not use olive oil - it actually messes up the taste)

4-5 cloves of garlic chopped

1 green onion chopped

2 eggs

3 tsp fish sauce (i really like the flavor of fish sauce and its saltiness, but add less if you don't)

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp light soy sauce

12 slices cucumber

2 cups rice (cook the rice several hours before so it's not steaming hot or sticky. You can use day old rice and quickly heat up in microwave before you add to the pan)

1. Beat the eggs and quickly scramble in the pan with a little bit of oil. Once done, take the eggs out and set aside.  In the same pan, add the rest of the oil and brown the garlic.  I put my heat on medium high so the garlic doesn't burn in 10 seconds.

2. Once they are lightly brown, add the rice, crab meat, eggs.  Give it a quick toss. 

3. Then add in the fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar.  Cook for about 4-5 minutes.

4. Sprinkle with green onion and serve with slices of cucumber!