Good Eating Monday: Crab Fried Rice!

Hubby and I both had a dental appointment this month for the bi-yearly cleaning--we were both Crest-kids with no problems! 

Then we had lunch at Panda Express near Lowe's, because we needed to pick up a new kitchen sink faucet. I was down to just the hot water handle working and now it's on it's way out, so time to bite the bullet. I want a plumber to install in because I want him to also move the ice maker hose connection to the kitchen pipes. Believe it or not, the contractors who built our house back in 1989 attached that connection to the master bath sink pipe, so the copper pipe runs from there, up into the attic, across, then down to the the wall behind the refrigerator to poke ungraciously out of a hole in the wall behind the frig to connect the ice maker to...one of many reasons why I have very little good to say about the guys a home builders or the contractors they hire.

Today's Good Eating recipe is one I'm going to try tonight: Crab Fried Rice!

Albeit it won't be a perfect recipe try because I didn't notice the bean sprouts or the seasame seed oil in the ingredient list before shopping,  but generally have everything else, including more crab then called for. So I figure that will make up for it!


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Ingredients:

2 cups long grain rice, cooked. (this made too much rice)
2 Tablespoons peanut or olive oil

4 1/2 oz of canned white crab meat, drained 

1 cup of bean sprouts (I'll be subbing frozen peas & carrots instead)

2 eggs, beaten

*1 Leek, sliced  (didn't have any flavor)

1 Tablespoon lower sodium soy sauce (too little liquid for rice)

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons of lime juice (adds a distracting favor I think)

Salt to taste (hard to gauge how much; easy to over-salt)

A sliced lime for garnish

Notes on ingredients:  I found an 8 oz container of Chicken of the Sea crab claw meat for $5 at the commissary, which is probably better--plus I bought one pack of Louis Kemp Crab Delights to use some of, just in case the real crab didn't seem enough. (I love those Delights anyway!) I'll also be using actual sesame seeds instead of the oil and adding frozen peas/carrots for more color instead of bean sprouts. * If you've never used a Leek before, be sure to slice, then rinse those slices thoroughly & drain before using, because leeks tend to have dirt hidden in their layers.

Directions:

1)  Cook your rice and have ready to add. (I use a mix of white & brown rice usually.)

2)  In a large wok or pan, heat the peanut or olive oil on high heat. Add crab meat, sliced leek, bean sprouts and stir-fry about 2 - 3 minutes, browning crab, then remove from wok or pan to a side dish.

3)  Now add 2 beaten eggs to wok or pan and cook, stirring occasionally, breaking into small bits until cooked through. Now return the crab meat mix to the wok or pan with the eggs and fold in the rice.

4) Combine the soy sauce, sliced lime & sesame oil, stir into the crab rice mix and cook for an additional 2 minutes to heat. 

5) Dish the crab fried rice either directly to 4 plates or move to a serving dish and serve hot with sliced lime on the side or as a garnish. Serves 4.

*****

My After Action Report (having made & tasted this concoction):
 I give this a two-thumbs down for the following reasons:
1) It was over-all fishy and bland tasting. My husband described it as tasting "green."

2) The real crab meat disintegrated into NOTHING and became invisible once I added the rice & soy sauce, so it DOESN'T look at all like the picture above, which came with this recipe in Pinterest. 
(I didn't use the Krab Delights, but think those would've tasted better, been larger and tasted less fishy. Real crab is fishy tasting.)
Plus crab meat has no fat to it to lend to favor or keep it moist. That picture looks juicy--and it just wasn't.

3)  Ingredient Problems:
a)  Too much rice was recommended in this recipe. Way too much.
b)  The Leek was flavorless in it. You couldn't even taste it. It didn't seem to add anything. I don't know why it was there. 
c)  The amount of soy sauce, sesame oil & lime juice called for was completely insufficient to coat this quantity of rice.  It would take at least 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup soy sauce to just lightly coat this much rice!
d) The lime juice was distracting. It seemed out of place and contributed to the taste Hubby described as," green."  

4) I do NOT recommend this recipe.

How I fixed the leftovers to be edible:
I put all the crab fried rice in a colander, rinsed it and let it drain to get rid of the lime taste. Then I minced 3 cloves of garlic, sauteed them olive oil a few seconds to release the flavor,  then added one pack of Louis Kemp Crab Delights sticks cut into 1 inches pieces & about 1 cup of finely chopped fresh pineapple, sauteed both together till hot. After that, I added the rinsed leftover crab fried rice and gave it a splash of fresh low-sodium soy sauce, then sauteed the whole thing until hot. Then served it. It was deliciously garlicky-crab tasting with big chunks of Crab Delight & sweet bites of pineapple! 
 Hubby said, "Now this tastes like fried rice!"
 *****

Eat up, hearties, yo-ho!
To see other Pinterest recipes I've tried and commented on, visit my Pinterest!