Crab in garlic sauce. Not some wimpy garlic sauce, mind you, but one suitable to ward off creatures of the night. And, as an experiment, I made this with no butter, and no oil. A low calorie, low-fat sauce, if you’re looking for something like that.

Ingredients:

• 2 Dungeness Crab, cooked
• 2 cups of peeled and minced garlic (you may want to use a food processor for this)
• 1/2 onion, chopped or minced
• 2 cups of soy sauce
• 1 cup of water
• 4 Tbsp dried hot pepper powder/flakes
• 2 Tbsp ginger powder, or 2″ of chopped fresh ginger

Directions:

• Open the cooked crab
• Remove and put aside the butter, the brown/green material found there. Seriously, it’s wonderful. Don’t confuse that with the lungs, the butter is the consistancy of soft butter, not an organ.
• Clean and crack the crab, breaking the body into two pieces.
• Check out this video, if you haven’t cleaned a crab before, but don’t toss the butter
• Put the onion and minced garlic in a wok/deep pan, and cook for a minute over medium-high heat until fragrant
• Add soy, hot pepper, ginger, and 1/2 cup of water, and bring to a simmer/low boil
• Add the reserved crab butter, stir in. Gives the sauce a wonderfully intense crab flavor.
• You’ll heat the crab in stages…
• Start putting in the crab parts, heat in the simmering liquid for 2-3 minutes, move to a plate/bowl, and put in the next load of crab
• If the sauce starts to reduce too much, getting too thick, add remaining 1/2 cup of water, bring back to a simmer, and continue
• Once crab is all heated, reduce remaining sauce to desired thickness (if needed), and pour over crab
• You can also reserve some of the sauce for dipping bowls, if you’d prefer
• Sleep well, knowing you’re safe from those pesky nocturnal visitors, at least for one night