Crispy Crab Spring Rolls
The crust of these crispy crab rolls filled with moist flaked seafood, is made with—surprise!—soft, white sandwich bread. For a party, I fry these in an electric skillet. It’s the easiest and best way for these tasty guilty pleasures to be as fresh as possible for our guests. I serve them with lemon wedges and doctored sweet Thai chile sauce.
Crab Rolls with Thai Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup Thai sweet chile sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
- 1 1/2 teaspoons unseasoned rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup minced scallions
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over
- Salt
- Freshly ground white pepper
- 12 slices of soft packaged white bread, crusts removed
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- About 1 quart vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
In a small bowl, blend the chile sauce with the lime juice, sesame seeds and vinegar.
In medium bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, scallions, egg yolk, lemon zest, nutmeg and cayenne. Fold in the crabmeat and season with salt and pepper.
Using a rolling pin, flatten each slice of bread. Arrange the bread with the short sides facing you. Spread the crab on the lower half of the slices and roll up the bread around the crab; press to seal the rolls. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites with the cornstarch and water.
In a large, deep skillet, heat 1 inch of oil to 375°. Dip each crab roll in the egg white mixture, then carefully transfer it to the oil and fry in batches without crowding, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 8 minutes per batch. Transfer the crab rolls to several layers of paper towels to drain, then serve with the chile sauce.
Recipe originally published in Andrew Zimmern’s Kitchen Adventures on foodandwine.com.
Photograph by Madeleine Hill.
