Spicy "Crab" & Cucumber Fritters
Ingredients
- 12 oz imitation crab legs (aka crab sticks) shredded like string cheese
- 1 "baby" cucumber, julienned
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Serious Foodie Indonesian Sambal Hot Sauce
- 6 thin slices of red onion
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
- canola oil for frying
- extra Serious Foodie Indonesian Sambal Hot Sauce for dipping or drizzling
- extra shredded cucumber for garnish and health
Instructions
- Heat about 1/2 inch oil in a large skillet.
- In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients until well-combined. Ladle about 1/4 cup of the batter into the hot oil. Repeat with remaining batter--you may have to do this in batches, depending on the size of your pan. Fry until the bottom is golden and the mixture is nearly set then flip using a spider or frying tongs and cook the other side until golden--just about 3 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towel-lined plates.
- Sprinkle the cucumber on the serving plate, add a dish of the hot sauce to dip, and arrange the fritters on top of the cucumber. Serve immediately.
I must have Hanukkah on the brain because I can think about is crispy fried things. I know we will be making latkes soon enough (Hanukkah is early this year!) so I didn’t want to make that so I took inspiration from one of my favorite Korean dishes, buchimgae, which is sort of like little omelette-y pancakes with garlic chives, shredded vegetables or seafood filling and started shredding and beating some eggs. Serious Foodie is having a recipe contest and was nice enough to send me an assortment of condiments to work with. The Indonesian Sambal was so good as a dipping sauce, I knew I could add it to something else for a quick jolt of spice and flavor. I was really stumped as to what I was going to use it in though until I literally started making these fritters using up ingredients I had in my fridge, was searching in vain for a pepper and realized it would be the perfect addition! It added tons of flavor with zero effort. What more can you ask for?
This made these fritters perfect for a last-minute appetizer or snack because you only need 5 very basic ingredients plus a jar of the sauce and the results are amazing. I might have eaten the whole batch myself! Jewish and Korean-inspired, Indonesian flavored, fake crab fritters? Why not? I served them with extra sauce to dip but it would also be good drizzled on if you were going to serve them immediately. I know some people are skeptical about fake crab and I don’t really know why! It is tasty (if sometimes slightly sweet which is why I like to use a lot of savory or spicy ingredients as contrast), pretty affordable, and keeps for a long time in the fridge which is why I always have it on hand for quick lunches or apps. You can shred the long sticks like string cheese and it has a really fun texture. It was so easy to toss it with the cucumber strips I made using this peeler and some thinly sliced onion. I honestly can’t wait to make these again, it took maybe 15 minutes start to finish? My husband is a fake crab skeptic and was very disappointed there weren’t any leftovers. Next time he will just have to take an earlier lunch break!
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