Alfalfa Crab Salad with Crispy Fried Noodles
At first glance these eye-catching chile peppers look like red jalapeno. However, they have a different flavor and are less meaty than Jalapeno. Red Fresnos are great roasted and added to salsas. Try grilling them alongside your steaks or in kabobs.
When roasting these they should char, blister, and become soft. Try substituting these in your favorite chile recipes.
Ingredients:
vegetable oil, for deep frying
2 oz Chinese rice noodles, uncooked
2 dressed crabs or 5 oz frozen white crab meat, thawed
4 oz alfalfa sprouts
1 small iceberg or bib lettuce
4 sprigs coriander, roughly chopped
1 ripe tomato, skinned, seeded, and diced
4 sprigs fresh mint, roughly chopped
Sesame Lime Dressing:
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 small red chile, seeded and finely chopped
1 piece stem ginger in syrup, cut into matchsticks
2 tsp stem ginger syrup
2 tsp soy sauce
juice of 1/2 lime
Instructions:
Combine the vegetable and sesame oils in a bowl. Add the chile, stem ginger, stem ginger syrup, and soy sauce with the lime juice.
Heat the oil in a deep-fryer to 385°F. Fry the noodles, one handful at a time, until crisp. Lift out and dry on paper.
Flake the white crab meat into a bowl and toss with the alfalfa sprouts. Serve on a nest of noodles and tossed salad ingredients.
Serves 4-6.
From “Fire and Spice” by Hsiung, Fernandez, and Wheeler.