6 CRAB CAKES AND CRUSHED PEAS
The snow-white flakes and rust-coloured cream of crab meat are famously shaped into crisp, shallow cakes, fried in oil or butter. American recipes will be rich with mayonnaise, bound with breadcrumbs and seasoned with Tabasco. I like them given an Asian identity too, with the fresh sting of lemon grass and lime zest. I regularly make a cross between the two, lightening the unctuousness of the seafood with fresh white crumbs while introducing the vibrancy of Asian seasonings. June 2008
SERVES 2-3
crab meat 300g
lemon grass a large stick or 2 smaller ones
lime 1, the zest and juice
ginger a thumb-sized piece
spring onions 2
hot chilli 1 small
coriander leaves a small handful, chopped
soft white breadcrumbs 8 tbsp
egg 1 large
flour a little
oil for cooking
For the minted pea purée:
shelled peas 400g
mint 4 sprigs
olive oil 3 tbsp
Put the crab meat into a mixing bowl. Discard the outer leaves of the lemon grass, then chop the inner leaves very finely and add the crab with the zest and juice of the lime. Peel and finely grate the ginger, finely chop the spring onions and the chilli and gently stir into the crab meat, making sure not to crush the crab meat into a paste.Fold in the chopped coriander and the breadcrumbs together with the egg, beaten, and a tablespoon or so of flour, just enough to bring the mixture together. Grind in a little black pepper.Take up scoops of the mixture and pat in to small thickish cakes, then let them sit for 30 minutes in the fridge. The mixture should make about six thick patties. Warm a shallow film of oil in a frying pan. Lower in the crab cakes, leave until golden on the underside, then turn tenderly and cook the other side. Moving the cakes too often will result in their crumbling.Serve with pea purée. To make the purée, boil the peas and mint sprigs in lightly salted water till tender, drain and whiz peas and the mint in a food processor with the oil till smooth.
viaNigel Slaters 10 most popular recipes | Life and style | The Observer.