Chili Lobster (Hurricane Lobster Party)
August 27, 2011 § 3 Comments
I am sorry, poor lobsters. š¦ Your sacrifice, due to my horrific murderous actions, was much-appreciated. Thank you!
One of my favorite restaurants in NY is Fatty Crab. Their pork-belly watermelon salad is AMAZING. But the “piece de la resistance” is undoubtedly their chili crab. It is SO delicious. Mop up that sauce with their huge pieces of buttery toast…mmm…mmm….mmm….
But since I am implementing austerity measures, I decided I would try to make an adaptation of the infamous chili-crab Ā recipe at home. With lobster. I think lobster is a little easier to eat because while still-messy, less messy than crab. And it was on sale for $5.99/lb, which is basically a steal. And once, at Fatty Crab, I tried the Chili Lobster instead one day, which was just as amazing as the crab.
Notes:
1. Yes, 4 tablespoons of sriracha does seem like a lot, but I really couldn’t taste that much spiciness! Feel free to start off with 2 (bare minimum) but be liberal, I would actually do 5 next time.
2. Since I couldn’t bring myself to breaking down the lobsters while they were alive, I decided to steam them first and then break them apart. But I am sure if you have more guts than I do, you could break them apart while they are alive and then cook them in the sauce, which might make the meat more flavorful. I actually didn’t mind the light flavoring, especially since I had a lot of sauce that I could dip my lobster-meat into.
3. The original recipe called for some cornstarch, but my sauce was pretty thick so I didn’t put it in. But I’m guessing that this will help the sauce coat the lobster better, so I suppose you could always give it a try!
4. This was really good, doesn’t really remind me of Fatty Crab’s too much (in a league of their own) but it was still super delicious! I will absolutely make this again and again.
5. Stay safe from the Hurricane everyone!
6. I hope I don’t lose too many visitors after this post…I truly did feel bad for those little guys. But they tasted pretty damn good…
Stephanie’s Hurricane Chili Lobster
Adapted from NY Times
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons sriracha
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Golden Mountain seasoning sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons rice-wine vinegar (or 2 tablespoons mirin, 1 tbsp rice vinegar)
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 cup water
- 1 cups chopped shallots (about 8 ounces)
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch* optional
- 2 tablespoons water* optional
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 3-4 1 3/4-2 lb lobsters, steamed, cleaned and split, large claws slightly cracked
- 1 egg yolk, beaten
- cup chopped scallions for garnishing
Directions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, with a steamer. Be careful not to let the water level be higher than the steamer, just-touching is fine. Bring the water to a boil, and then carefully drop those lovely lobsters into the pot and close the lid immediately. :*( Then steam for about 18-20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. After cooled, break them apart, taking the claws, tail, and legs off and reserving the head for soup stock if desired. Remove the gills and innards (greyish/greenish yucky stuff) and roe (orange/red stuff). Crack the claws and segment the tail carefully. Set the lobster pieces aside, you can do this up to one night before.
- In a large bowl, whisk the sriracha, soy sauce, sugar, Golden Mountain sauce, rice-wine vinegar, tomato paste and sesame oil with 1 cup of water and set aside.
- Place the shallots, garlic, ginger and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture becomes a smooth paste. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water.
- Heat the peanut oil in a wok over high heat, and when it shimmers, add the shallot paste and fry for 2 minutes until very fragrant. Add theĀ chiliĀ sauce, and when the liquid simmers, continue to cook for 5 minutes on medium low heat (it may start to splatter, lower heat if this happens).
- Add the lobster and coat well with the sauce, keeping the heat at medium.
- Add the cornstarch paste if you want your sauce to be thicker, now, and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the egg yolk to the sauce and stir immediately into the sauce so it is a smooth consistency. Coat the lobster pieces.
- Turn off the heat and serve the lobster with lots of rice or toast, and a LOT of napkins!
- Enjoy!!
my golden hour 
YUM!
i’m still (& always will be) ur loyal fan soohee!!! š
mmm i want some of that in my belly ASAP!
aw thanks doll! xoxo