Hong Kong Crab Cakes with Baby Bok Choy
Hong Kong is a truly eye-popping place for a food lover. The dai pai dong (food stalls) around Stanley Street on Hong Kong Island are full of noodle shops, fishmongers, live chickens, and a dazzling display of the strangest produce I have ever seen. The whole place smells like ginger and fresh coriander—I had a blast. When I got back to New York I was playing around with some of the flavors that I had experienced and came up with these crab cakes. Although crab cakes are not exactly Chinese, the flavors are pure Hong Kong. These crab cakes can easily be prepared ahead of time. Serve with Perfect Steamed Jasmine Rice (page 240).
Recipe information
Yield
makes 4 crabs cakes (serves 2)
Ingredients
Crab Cakes
Bok Choy
Preparation
Step 1
2 tablespoons brown sugar Toasted sesame seeds (see Note), chopped cilantro, and sliced green onion, for garnish Sauté the garlic and ginger in a tablespoon of peanut oil for a few minutes; cooking them first really releases a lot of flavor and gives the crab cakes depth. Remove from the heat. In a mixing bowl, combine the crabmeat, bread crumbs, green onion, mayonnaise, chili paste, lemon juice, and egg white. Scrape the garlic-ginger oil into the bowl; season with salt and pepper. Fold the ingredients together gently but thoroughly, taking care not to mash the crabmeat. Using your hands, form the mixture into 4 crab cakes; they should be moist and just hold together. Put the crab cakes on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate while preparing the bok choy. This allows the flavors to blend and the crab cakes to set.
Step 2
Cover the bottom of a skillet with a 2-count drizzle of peanut oil and heat until almost smoking. Split the piece of ginger open with a knife, then whack it with the flat side of the knife to release the flavor. Lay the ginger pieces in the oil, cut-side down, to let them start to perfume. Pan-fry the bok choy, cut-side down, for a couple of minutes to give it some color. Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, lemon juice, and brown sugar. Thin out the sauce with 3/4 cup of water. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the sauce has a syrupy consistency.
Step 3
While that’s happening, coat another skillet with a 4-count of peanut oil and bring it to a slight smoke over medium heat. Fry the crab cakes until brown, about 5 minutes on each side, turning carefully with a spatula. Serve the crab cakes with the bok choy and garnish with the toasted sesame seeds, cilantro, and green onion.
notes
Step 4
To make fresh bread crumbs: Cut the crusts off some stale bread and pulse it in a food processor.
Step 5
To toast sesame seeds: Put the sesame seeds in a dry skillet. Place over medium-low heat and shake the pan constantly until the seeds are golden brown.
