In the 8GTCC Cantonese Cuisine Discovery in Red Star Seafood Restaurant, a discussion on crab fat was brought up and one thing led to another, I was brought into the discussion to make a Crab Paste Pasta at home. You know how Ben always put hints in the comments. Well, I guess I just have to make this once to satisfy his curiosity, knowing that this is not a very healthy conscious choice.
So, here is it, a simple pasta dish flavoured with crab paste. I bought the crab paste from Tindahan Grocery on Minoru Blvd as directed by Crispy Lechon. Thanks, for the tips. We found that the crab paste does not have a strong flavour as we expected. It has a mild seafood flavour.
Taba ng talangka or crab paste is made with really small crabs that have lots of roe or fat. Click on the image above to check on the nutrition facts which indicates that it is relatively high in cholesterol (18%) and salt (46%) of daily value per 2 tablespoons (55g). For this recipe, I have to use the whole jar of the crab paste which is 227g for 4 to 5 servings. After doing the math, the figure is not as scary as I initially thought.
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghettini
- 1 jar (8 oz) of Crab Paste
- 2 tablespoons of Olive oil
- 1 bulb of garlic, peeled and minced
- juice from 1 lemon (I left this out as my family does not like tangy pasta)
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes, optional
- Parmesan cheese
- basil leaves for garnishing
Source: this recipe is adapted from http://sliceofpattie.blogspot.com/2010/08/recipe-request-aligue-crabfat-pasta.html via fmed’s recommendation
Prep time: 5 minutes; Cook time: 8 to 10 minutes; Serves 4
Instructions
 Cook the spaghettini is salted boiling water for 8 minutes or until al dente. |
 While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large sauce pan and saute the garlic in medium low heat until fragrant but not brown. |
 Add the jar of crab paste and rinse the jar with some water to get all the paste out if necessary. |
 Cook for 3 minutes, stirring often. Add the juice of a lemon if using. Season the sauce with chili flakes if using and ground pepper. |
 When the pasta is ready, toss the pasta into the crab paste sauce in the sauce pan. You may add some water from cooking the pasta if the sauce is too dry.Serve the pasta on individual plate, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and garnished with julienne basil. |
Is there any difference taste between this crab paste and the Vietnamese one?
That looks really delicious. I haven’t really tried cooking it with pasta but I think I’m going to give that a try. You can also add some butter or heavy cream in the sauce to make it even more creamier. Then we can call it a heart attack on a plate. 🙂 Anyway, I love using the crab fat as a dip with fried food. Or simply mixed with steamed rice to make crab fat fried rice. Yum.
So what was the verdict?
Was it as good as in a restaurant?
Does cost savings balance out the trouble to make it at home?
Did the kids like it?
And most importantly, will you make it again?
If you do, try upgrading to better parmesan cheese. Costco sells grated parmesan by the bag pretty cheaply. I have found that it does make a difference.
I have never heard of the main ingredient and I will have to look for it and try this!
Hi etranger: The Crab Paster pasta was just OK. I had high expectations of it but it did not really wow me. The crab paste was quite mild, which our boys like. They don’t like strong flavours. Ben
etranger You can find crab paste or taba ng talangka in larger Filipino stores and groceries and regarding finding it in restaurants.It is rare to find this dish in restaurants outside the Philippines thats why most of us pinoys here in Canada make it at home
Thanks! I will see if Uwajimaya (Seattle) carries Filipino groceries. I am guessing they do. I am sure there is a Filipino grocery here somewhere.
Pingback: Foodstuff: Thai Crab Paste – Jack Hua Brand | Sybaritica