Dungeness Crab, Coconut Sauce, Alige
Chef Eric Valdez of NAKS | New York
Adapted by StarChefs | February 2025 | Photo: Alexander Zeren
INGREDIENTS
Coconut Sauce:
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped red onion
1 tablespoon chopped tomato
1 green chile, chopped
1 teaspoon shrimp paste
8 ounces coconut milk
Fish sauce
Ground black pepper
Alige:
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped red onion
250 grams crab fat
50 grams butter
Fish sauce
To Assemble and Serve:
Dungeness crab
METHOD
For the Coconut Sauce:
In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, add ginger, garlic, onion, tomato, and chile. Cook until softened. Add shrimp paste and continue to cook until the mixture has browned. Add coconut milk. Season with fish sauce and pepper. Reduce heat and keep warm.
For the Alige:
In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, add ginger, garlic, and onion. Cook until alliums are soft and translucent. Remove from heat and stir in crab fat and butter. Transfer mixture to a Vitamix Commercial blender and purée until smooth. Season with fish sauce. Set aside.
To Assemble and Serve:
In a large pot over medium heat, bring water to a boil. Place crab in a steamer basket and add to boiling water. Cover pot and cook 12 minutes. Remove from basket and pick meat, reserving fat and shell. Spoon picked meat back into the crab shell. Fill with Coconut Sauce and Alige. Place stuffed crab shell on a serving plate and serve.
