A spicy crab soup is a great way to enjoy seafood, when you really want something that is hot and spicy. Koreans love spicy food and this is another great example of hot seafood, crabs are in season in autumn in South Korea, as the weather starts to cool we love something hot to warm us up.
The basic recipe is similar to my crab soup and the way the crab is prepared is the same, so if you know what to do skip over the initial instructions.
Spicy Crab Soup Ingredients
2 Crabs 1 Courgette 2 Spring Onion 1 Onion Handful of prawns Tofu 5 Mushrooms
Sauce
2 Tablespoons of Soy bean paste 1 Tablespoon of Gochujang 1 Tablespoon of Red Pepper Powder 1 Tablespoon of Garlic 1 tablespoon of Soju (vodka) Pinch of black pepper
Preparing the Crabs
If you buy dressed crabs then you can skip the next step as the fishmonger will have done this for you. I will show you what parts of the crab will need to cut off and removed before cooking:
Start by breaking the the shell away from the crab, so that it seperates in to 2 pieces, then taking the body part remove the head, gills and rear ends, I have cut these away using sissors.
Next you need to remove the tips of the feet as these are sharp, again use sissors to snip them off. You can remove the legs before or after cooking, I have left them attached for now.
Spicy Crab Soup
Once the crabs are ready, lets make the soup!
Start by putting about 900ml of water or stock in a large sauce pan, if you have used water to improve the flavour add some chicken stock, about 2 tablespoons. Now put of full heating until it is boiling, keep boiling for several minutes whilst removing the froth with a spoon.
To prepare the vegetables take the courgette, onion, spring onion, tofu and mushrooms and slice these in to pieces.To make the spicy sauce take a small bowl and mix together all the ingredients for the sauce until it represents a paste.
To make the soup place the crabs in the stock and surround them with the vegetables and pour the spicy sauce over the top. Bring the entire soup to boil, continue removing the froth with a spoon and keep boiling until the crab is cooked about 15 to 20 minutes at the most.
Serve this spicy soup in bowls with some rice. The claws and legs will need to be broken to get at the meat, you can use a small hammer or knife to get at the meat, which is lovely and tender.
