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Preparation
20 minutes
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Cooking
10 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Freshwater crab may be small and have little meat, but it is a very common food in Vietnamese family meals. Today, Tastetutorial.com will share with you the recipe for cooking freshwater crab soup with amaranth and malabar spinach, which is delicious and easy to make at home. Let’s get cooking right away with this soup dish!
Ingredients for Freshwater Crab Soup with Amaranth Serves 3 people
Freshwater crab 1 kg Malabar spinach 200 gr Amaranth 200 gr Loofah 1 piece Green onions 2 stalks Fish sauce 1 teaspoon Common seasonings a little ( salt/ sugar/ monosodium glutamate )
How to choose fresh ingredients
How to buy fresh river crabs
- Choose river crabs that have a dull gray-purple color, with a lighter shell. To select crabs with more meat, choose male crabs with small and pointed abdomens; for crabs with more roe, choose female crabs that have larger abdomens, commonly referred to as “flower abdomens.”
- Choose those that still move quickly, with intact claws and legs, and are flexible. Pressing on the shell should produce bubbles if the crab is still fresh.
- To make delicious crab soup, the crabs must be pounded by hand; the crab meat will be soft, smooth, and retain its distinctive flavor. If you don’t have time, you can use a grinder, but the crab meat will usually be coarse and grainy.
- Avoid selecting river crabs with red eyes, a hairy underside, or a back with star spots.
How to buy fresh amaranth
- It is best to buy amaranth with bright green leaves or mixed with plum red.
- Choose bunches of amaranth with sturdy, firm stems, not limp, and leaves that are not bruised or spoiled.
- Do not buy amaranth that is wilted, pesticide-treated, or has yellow leaves.
- Purchase amaranth from clean, hygienic, reputable places to avoid those that have been excessively sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.
How to buy fresh water spinach
- Choose water spinach that has a uniform green color from the leaves to the stems, with many shoots, fewer leaves, and smaller leaves are tastier.
- Avoid selecting spinach with overly large leaves, fewer shoots, and plump stems to prevent mistakenly choosing those that have been treated with pesticides.
- Do not buy leaves that are bruised, too weak, as they will lack nutrition.
See more: The health benefits of water spinach
How to prepare Crab Soup with Amaranth
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Prepare and filter the freshwater crab meat
Soak the crabs in diluted saltwater for about 10 minutes to clean off the mud, then rinse with clean water. Remove the crabs, separate the shell, and discard the apron.
Put the crab meat and shells into a mortar and pound until finely ground, then add about 1 liter of water and mix well. Next, filter the crab water through an strainer, discarding the crab residue to obtain the crab juice.
Tip: To save time on grinding the crab meat, you can put it in a blender for easier processing!
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Prepare other ingredients
Pick the leaves of the amaranth and water spinach, rinse in diluted saltwater for cleanliness, then cut into pieces about 1 finger length.
Peel the gourd, rinse it clean, and then cut it into small slices. Chop the green onion, rinse clean, and then cut it into small pieces.
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Cooking crab soup with vegetables
Put the filtered crab water on the stove and boil until the crab foam rises, then add the loofah, amaranth, and water spinach to cook for about 2 – 3 minutes. Continue to add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of fish sauce.
Season to taste and add chopped green onions before turning off the heat!
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Final product
Serve the amaranth crab soup in a bowl and enjoy. The soup is sweet and light, with fatty crab foam and the amaranth, water spinach, and loofah just cooked, soft, and fresh. This dish is very suitable for a family meal in the summer!
See more:
With the recipe for canh cua rau dền with delicious water spinach, easy to make at home. Tastetutorial.com hopes you will succeed!
*Refer to the recipe and images from the YouTube channel: DÂN MIỀN TÂY
