Garlic-Black Pepper Crab | Cua Rang Tỏi Tiêu

An easy, delicious workaround for a restaurant-y dish

I’d like to think that this tastes as good (if not better) than it looks. It’s something that I made for a weeknight dinner this week, thanks to a deal on whole crab at the supermarket. All you need is one crab to satisfy two people, with a little leftover for an indulgent snack.

We’re in crab season and I hope to encourage you to look at the crustacean from different angles. I love a simple crab salad with freshly made mayonnaise, crab cakes, or a crab Rangoon, but this dish is rock ‘em sock ‘em delicious. It’s a little messy to eat but it’s extra fun, and you — the cook, do not have to pick the crab meat yourself! This is an Asian restaurant-style dish but I do things slightly differently with spectacular results.

Simplified but not simplistic

The usual method for cua rang tỏi tiêu (“cu-aH rahng toy tee-U”) is this: get a live crab, kill it, cut it up and crack its raw parts, deep-fry to quickly cook the crab, then roast or wok-toss the crab with seasonings. Did that make you wince or did your eyes glazed over? Who wants to go to all that trouble? Plus — I have to tell you this: the deep frying-and-roasting/wokking approach can turn the crab dry, making me (the eater) extra crabby. Crab’s richness lies in preserving its fresh succulence and sweet briny flavor.

For those reasons and to streamline cooking, I prefer to use boiled crab then quickly cooking its parts with a spiced up blend of seasonings and an umami boosting sauce. There are few tricky dance moves involved to making an impressive dish. You’ll savor the crab and seasonings with less hassle. You’ll be eating faster too. If you’re like me and are looking for more easygoing ideas for celebrating crab season, add this recipe to your list!

No Dungeness? No problem. You can use rock crab or blue crabs. Just break them down like a big boy Dungy. And, if you watched my how to pick crab video, you realize by the aprons that the crabs we buy are males. Females need to be put back in the ocean to birth new crabs!

If you’ve never prepared this kind of dish before, below are key points to consider.