Kkotkgae Maun Bokkeum

Korean Spicy Crab!

     Kkotkgae Maun Bokkeum is a very tasty Korean crab recipe.  Flower crab is what Koreans use in this traditional recipe, but flower crabs are hard to come by outside of asia.  Blue crab is a similar shaped crab and dungeness crab is also a good substitute.  I was lucky enough to find live Chesapeake Bay blue crabs for sale at the Greenland Market in Korea Town, Las Vegas.  The live crabs in the pictures were extremely lively and they were grabbing anything that moved, including my fingers!  Fresh live Chesapeake blue crab is as good as crab gets!
     Since I picked up a basketful of food items at the Korean market, making a traditional Korean crab recipe was an easy decision.  There are many spicy hot recipes in Korean cooking.  You can adjust the level of chile pepper heat to suit your personal taste.  Most Korean restaurants offer a scale of one through ten of spicy heat for customers to choose from.  I personally prefer spicy food to be as spicy as it can be, within reasonable bounds.  Let your personal taste be your guide for the amount of chile spice in Korean recipes, but remember that many Korean recipes are meant to be spicy hot.

     Kkotkgae Maun Bokkeum Recipe:
     Have all the ingredients ready, before starting the stir fry in the recipe!
     Boil 2 quarts of water in a pot over high heat.
     Drop 2 live blue crabs in the boiling water.
     Cook the crabs, till the shell turns an orange color and till the crabs are 3/4's fully cooked.
     Place the crabs on a cutting board and chop them in half with a cleaver or heavy knife.  (A few of the claws and legs may fall off and that is okay.)
     Set the par boiled blue crab halves aside.
     Heat a wok or a saute pan over medium/medium high heat.
     Add about 1/3 cup of vegetable oil.
     Dredge the blue crab pieces in rice flour.
     Add the crab pieces to the hot oil in the pan.
     Stir fry for 30 seconds.
     Add 1 handful of finely chopped onion.
     Add 5 cloves of minced garlic.
     Add 2 teaspoons of minced ginger.
     Add 3 finely chopped green hybrid twisted peppers or 2 finely chopped green serrano peppers.
     Stir fry for about 1 or 2 minutes.
     Add 1 1/2 cups of water.
     Add 2 tablespoons of Korean sambal (gochujang) or Korean coarse red serrano chile pepper sauce.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of Korean red chile powder.  (gochugaru)
     Add 4 tablespoons of Korean red serrano chile garlic sauce.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil.
     Add 2 tablespoons of thin soy sauce.
     Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar.
     Add sea salt.  (Taste before adding sea salt.  Some Korean sambal pastes are salty!)
     Bring the sauce to a boil.
     Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water in a small bowl.
     Add just enough of the cornstarch slurry to the sauce in the pan, while stirring, to thicken the sauce to a medium thin sauce consistency.
     Add 1 thin sliced green onion.
     Toss the ingredients together.
     Remove the pan from the heat.
   
     Presentation:
     Place about 5 perilla leaves around the border of a plate, so that they are evenly spaced.
     Mound the Korean spicy crab pieces on the center of the plate.
     Spoon any excess sauce over the crab pieces.
     Sprinkle a little bit of thin sliced green onion top over the Korean spicy crab.

     Viola!  Spicy fresh cooked crab Korean style!
     I have seen Koreans eating Kkotkgae Maun Bokkeum with chopsticks in restaurants without making any mess.  That is an accomplishment!  For those who are not professional with chopsticks, this Korean spicy crab entree is better off being eaten with fingers, just like buffalo wings are eaten.  Kkotkgae Maun Bokkeum is finger licking good and spicy hot!  I do suggest a cold Korean Hite Beer with this spicy entree.  Yum!  ...  Shawna