Crab and ginger soup recipe
This is a twist on the Chinese classic crab and sweetcorn soup. Any crab shells leftover from the other recipes here can be used to make the stock. The dried black fungus is an Asian speciality that can be bought online, but leave it out if you can’t get hold of it.
Timings
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Serves
4
Ingredients
For the stock
500g crab shells, smashed into pieces
1.5 litres fish stock
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
40g tomato purée
1 star anise
20 black peppercorns
To finish
2 spring onions, trimmed, halved lengthways and finely chopped
50g ginger, peeled and grated or finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped, seeds and all
20g dried shredded black fungus, soaked for a couple of hours in cold water
2 tsp cornflour, diluted in a little water
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 egg, beaten
80g white crab meat
Method
To make the stock, put all of the ingredients in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer gently for an hour, skimming off any scum now and then and topping up with water if necessary.
Strain the stock through a fine meshed sieve into a clean pan set over a medium heat.
Add the spring onion, ginger, chilli and black fungus (if using), then stir in the cornflour and simmer for 5 minutes.
Season if necessary, add the coriander and stir in the egg until it forms streaks. Remove from the heat.
Ladle the soup into bowls, spoon the white crab on top and serve.
