Recipe: Korean Raw Spicy Crab (Yangnyeom Gejang)

If I had to choose what’s my favorite type of seafood, it would be blue crab, hands down! It’s great steamed, boiled with seasonings, made into crab cakes, or raw. I can’t remember when I first had raw spicy crab, but I remember I got it at a local Korean supermarket in NYC. This was many years ago, and I’m glad to say I am experienced enough with preparing food that I can make a pretty decent yangnyeom gejang.

Korean Raw Spicy Crab

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 dozen blue crab (live or killed–I’d suggest killed so you don’t have to struggle like I did to keep them from scurrying away or dueling with your tongs)
  • low sodium soy sauce
  • half a head of garlic, diced
  • scallion
  • a touch of sesame oil
  • red pepper flakes
  • cayenne powder
  • a medium onion, diced
  • sugar

I’ll be honest here, as you all know by now, I really eyeball the amount of each ingredient, and focus on the taste to let me know if my seasoning or sauce is on point. I can give you my best estimates for the proportions! 🙂

Steps:

  1. Separate the head from the body if it’s not already separated.
  2. Pull off the lungs and antennae.
  3. Scrub the crab down thoroughly to clean off the dirt and mud that’s on the shells.
  4. To let the flavor seep in, break the crab’s body into quarters.
  5. Cover and refrigerate the crab as you work on your marinade. **I usually just marinate the bodies and steam the heads, but that’s entirely up to you!**
  6. Pour approximately half a cup of low sodium soy sauce, some cayenne powder and pepper flakes (based on your tolerance for spice), 1/4 tsp of sesame oil, and sugar to taste.
  7. Dice up your garlic and onion into fine pieces and add it into your marinade.
  8. Put the crab either in a large bowl or ziploc bag, and pour in your sauce (after you make sure you like the flavor!!). Stir it around so all of the crab pieces have touched the marinade.
  9. Cover it again and let it sit for a couple of hours, flipping the crab to let all of the pieces get thoroughly soaked.
  10. Leave it overnight to marinate, and you can eat it the next day!

DISCLAIMER: Remember that there’s always a risk of eating raw foods, so this is a recipe that you should eat at your own risk! I have a pretty strong stomach that can handle raw foods, but if you don’t have a stomach of steel, you might want to pass on this recipe :X