Sometimes you just need to bite the bullet and pay full price. That’s what I walked away with after Lisa made this version of Pad Thai from Almost Meatless, a great cookbook to give those in your life who are trying to eat less meat but can’t quite, or don’t want to, go vegetarian. When we went shopping to pick up the ingredients for this one (a few months ago, now), the lump crab meat at our local Whole Foods was something like $32/lb, and they didn’t have any whole crabs on hand. We already had the rest of the ingredients for this recipe at home, so we decided to go with the pre-pack cans of crab meat. The pieces fell apart rapidly and overly-infused the dish with too much crabbiness. One the other hand, we’d never made Pad Thai at home, and it’s good knowing that it’s actually pretty easy to do. Next time we’ll either wait for a sale, or go with tofu.

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Lisa says:

Whoa, way too crabby.

Chris says:

…but the noodles themselves are good.

Lisa says:

Yeah I like the noodles and the sauce, but the crab is still overpowering.

Chris says:

Although… hunger vs. tastebuds…

Lisa says:

Well obviously hunger wins. But next time I’m just making this vegetarian.

Chris says:

And I like the picture, so there’s that.

Lisa says:

Yes, there’s that — is that why you waited so long to post this one, though? Because it wasn’t exactly our favorite?

Chris says:

Hmm… laziness vs. pride…

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Crab Pad Thai
8 oz rice noodles
1 cup tamarind water/concentrate
1/2 cup fish sauce
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
8 tsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
8 oz lump crabmeat
2 cups bean sprouts
6 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped
2 limes, cut into wedges, for serving

Prepare the noodles as directed on the package by soaking in hot water for 10-15 minutes until just softened, then rinsing under cold water. Set aside.
Whisk together the tamarind concentrate, fish sauce, sugar, and soy sauce in a bowl and set aside.
Make each serving one at a time: Heat two teaspoons of the oil in a wok over high heat. When the wok and oil are hot, drop around 2 cups of the noodles (about 1/4th) and toss continuously for 30 seconds. Add 1/4th of the sauce mixture and 1/2 tsp of minced garlic, tossing to coat the noodles. Push to the side and add in 1/4 of the beaten eggs. Let it start to set, then scramble into the noodles. Add 1/4th of the crab meat, bean sprouts, and scallions, toss to heat through, then plate. Top with peanuts and add lime wedges. Repeat for the remaining three servings.

4 Servings