Despite being a crab, it's called 'Shrimp'; a favorite seafood of Northeastern people, rarely seen in Ningbo
Though it's a crab, it's called 'Shrimp',The Northeast people love eating this seafood the most,Crab is a nutritious ingredient, and I especially love to eat crab. Large freshwater crab, crab, and green crab are all my favorites. Because I live in Ningbo, I often buy crabs to cook, steamed large freshwater crab, large freshwater crab stir-fried with spicy white cabbage, crab stir-fried with rice cakes, scallion oil crab, steamed green crab, etc. are all my favorites!
However, today we're talking about this crab, which is not the crabs mentioned above. This kind of crab is rare but special. It's born without shells. Its crab claws are very large, but it has no crab shells, and its belly is soft. It also likes to snatch other crabs' shells, but it's very delicious, and its meat is more than large freshwater crab, and its flavor is fresher than crab!
Do you know what this crab is called? This crab is called 'Hermit Crab'.
This is the crab in the picture. This hermit crab is really special. Its belly is soft, so it likes to snatch some snail shells. When it sees a snail, it eats the snail and then takes the snail shell.
Moreover, its shell often changes. When it grows a little, it will look for a bigger shell. Besides capturing snails and snatching snail shells, it also likes to snatch the shells of other hermit crabs, which is very wild.
However, this hermit crab is rare in Zhejiang Province's coastal regions, but it's common in Dalian. Dalian people love to eat this seafood. In Dalian, it has a special name – 'Crab Monster'.
Although it's a crab, it has this name 'Crab Monster', which sounds pretty fun. Dalian people especially love to eat crab monsters. The price of crab monsters is also higher than other crabs because this kind of crab is relatively scarce, and its flavor is also very fresh, and its meat is particularly abundant, especially the meat on its belly is very fatty, and its claws are also full of meat. This crab monster is considered to have a lot of meat compared to other crabs, so its price is naturally a little higher.
Crab monster meat is abundant, so it's very suitable for steaming and stir-frying. Dalian people generally like these two methods.
Steamed Crab Monster
First, rinse the crab monsters with water and then remove the snail shells, then you can steam them in a pot. Bring the water to a boil first, then steam for 10 minutes before eating. When eating, dip it in ginger vinegar sauce, which is very fresh.
Spicy Crab Monster
If you like spicy flavors, you can also stir-fry crab monster. After bringing crab monster home, remove the snail shells and brush them clean with a brush, then cut them into two or three cuts, and stir-fry with oil, garlic, dried chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, then add crab monster to stir-fry, plus fresh broth and salt for seasoning. This spicy stir-fried crab monster is delicious!
Spicy stir-fried crab monster is not only very fresh but also fragrant and spicy, which is very appetizing. If you add other vegetables when stir-frying crab monster, the vegetables will also be full of crab flavor!
