Korean spicy marinated crabs was one of those dishes I saw on a Korean drama and later on on mukbangs that I ABSOLUTELY KNEW I MUST HAVE. I LOVE raw seafood! It’s the #1 thing I crave when I’m pregnant that drives me nuts is raw seafood! True story, when I was going through laboring pains and my husband didn’t know what to do, he whipped out his phone and turn on some YES, MUKBANGS HAHAHAHAHHA I was literally like WTF, but thought it was comedic cute at the same time? My poor husband..but I guess he caught on that food does make me happy so it was worth a try. Good job OX, A for effort.
Ganjang Gejang (soy marinated crab) and spicy marinated crab! This girl over here, living in WA state could not for the life of her find a restaurant to dish out this amazing delicacy in a way to satiate her palate. Nothing looked like the Korean dramas or the mukbangs. They were all watered down, sad, pre-frozen versions.. So then I went to H-mart (the one in Federal way) to check out what was available! So They have these jars that are around 20 bucks of soysauce marinated crab which are not half bad, cept sometimes you get a really sandy one, and that my friend is no Bueno to me. But when you’re desperate, you do what you must do. The crabs are very little and produce very little meat. The sauce is a bit sweet, not really salty. But the sand— I can’t do the sand. So onto the next option! The cold dishes a-la-carte! The in-house packaged side dishes included a spicy marinated crab. This was also a bit expensive ranging from 12-15+ dollars per package. But this was delicious! Eating the spicy marinated versions, you get really none of that good roe inside the shell, but the sweet flesh of the crabs definitely made up for it! I prefer this version over the frozen soy sauce version.
However, there must be a better option right? Yeah, if you wanna make it yourself haha but reader beware, ganjang gejang takes a few days and a few steps to complete. The spicy marinated crab is a little bit more spontaneous crab craving friendly. As a disclaimer, I am 100% Vietnamese. I have no experience in Korean cuisine besides late night binge watching Korean dramas, mukbangs, and talk shows where celebrities eat. Haha, but I did look up a bunch of recipes and a bunch of people making it when I was pregnant and having mad cravingssss. So take this recipe light hearted okay all you professional omas and noonas..and oppas that cook!
GANJANG GEJANG RECIPE (SOY SAUCE MARINATED CRABS)
What you need:
- YOU NEED FRESH BLUE CRABS. The little ones that come and go with the seasons. I would choose the female crabs over the male crabs because that’s what soy sauce marinated crabs are all about anyways. You can distinguish female crabs by the rounder underbelly. Males have a V shape instead. If you can be picky, choose ones that are feisty, heavy, and feel full/hard when you squeeze em. Watch your fingers homies!
- Onion (1), apple (1), scallions (a bundle), whole cloves of garlic, knob of ginger, half a handful of hot peppers (I use Thai cuz that’s what I have and half a handfuls like 7-8? haha)
- Cut your onion and apple into 4.
- Chop your scallions in 2-3 inch pieces
- Grab a handful of peeled garlic cloves
- Scrape the skin off your ginger and smash it roughly so its intact but broken (kind of like my heart in college O.O)
- Soy sauce (2-3 cups depending on your soy sauce and preference), rice syrup (1/2-3/4 depending on your preference)
- Red pepper flakes, sesame seeds
Wow, what a weird way of listing ingredients.. ANYWAYS, I’ll work on my blogging skills at another time.
GANJANG GEJANG RECIPE
- Create your sauce first. We’ll get to the crabs later since the sauce needs to thoroughly cool before marinating your crabs. Put your onion, apple, garlic, thai peppers, ginger into a pot. Add 2 cups of soy sauce and about 1/2 cup rice syrup. Add about 5 cups of water.
- From here you want to start tasting to see if this is where your marinade is. I prefer mine a little salty, and only subtly sweet so the measurements I’ve added reflect that. Adjust it to your liking.
- Bring your marinade to a boil and let it simmer on medium until your apples are soft (20-30 minutes)
- COOL IT COMPLETELY
- Clean those crabs as well as you can with your handy dandy toothbrush (one you’re not going to use again hopefully..but I am not judging). Clean the undersides and below the legs. Open up the crab belly/shell and take off the little finnies. clean and run some water carefully over the crab to get rid of any sand that may be lying around and scrub scrub scrub! If your crabs are moving, the most humane way to do this is to stick it in the freezer for 2-3 hours so they go to sleep. Just like your pet whiskers did when you were 5..wow that was morbid. Cut off the little ends of the legs of the crab and try to make your crab look whole again, please.
- Place your clean crabs in a clean container and pour over your cooled marinade. Let this sit in the fridge for about 24 hours.
- Pour out the marinade, bring it back to a boil, cool again, and then add again to your crabbies for another 2 days.
- Day 3, plate your crabbies with some toasted sesame seeds, sliced garlic, and peppers. ENJOY!
The crab is super delicious when you squeeze the crab’s flesh out onto rice with a little bit of the sauce and a drizzle of sesame oil and then wrap this all up in toasted seaweed. OMFG its delicious!
SPICY MARINATED CRAB INGREDIENTS
- Swimming crabs from the frozen section at the Korean grocery store
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Scallions
- Sesame Seeds
- Gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes)
- Rice Syrup
- Sugar
- Soy Sauce
- Rice Vinegar
SPICY MARINATED CRAB RECIPE
- Clean your crabbies! If they’re frozen, thaw them out in the fridge. We only want to work with crabs that are ready to be consumed so they should be thawed before working on them!
- To clean, take a toothbrush and start scrubbing!
- Cut off the tips of the legs
- Cut off the predatory thorn looking things that may cause damage to your mouth
- Open up the belly, you can choose to keep the guts but I discard them. Clean and wash the exposed crab to rid it of sand particles.
- Get rid of the fins and wash on the sides of the crabs and under the legs of the crab as well
- Quarter the crabs either by cutting them or you can just break them with your hands
- SAUCE: Mince 6 cloves of garlic and a knob of ginger. Add to 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 4 tablespoons of rice syrup, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 2 teaspoon sesame seeds
- Time to adjust to your preference again everybody! You have rice vinegar for tartness, soy sauce for saltiness, rice syrup for a subtle sweetness, and sugar for strong sweetness!
- Cut your scallions into 2 inch pieces
- Toss your crab in your sauce and mix with your scallions. Make sure to mix well so that the sauce gets in every nook and cranny!
- Serve topped with more sesame seeds and cut peppers if you like an extra kick
- Again, I love eating the crab flesh with a drizzle of sesame oil and toasted seaweed! Yum 🙂