Lai Yau Tim · Hong Kong

Steamed Crab Claw with Winter Melon (Tim's Kitchen Signature)

Time1 h 15 min
LevelEasy
Fish and seafoodChinese
Steamed Crab Claw with Winter Melon (Tim's Kitchen Signature)

A dish of refined simplicity, crab claws with winter melon bring together the sweetness of tender crab meat with the delicate, refreshing taste of slow-simmered winter melon. The broth, infused with ginger and aromatic herbs, enhances the natural flavors, creating a light yet deeply satisfying dish. Elegant yet comforting, this meal is perfect for chilly evenings when you crave warmth without heaviness.

Adapted for a home kitchen by our editors from Lai Yau Tim's restaurant recipe. Lai Yau Tim freezes the claws of a mud crab so the raw meat comes out of the shell in one piece, steams squares of winter melon, steams the claw meat with Chinese yellow wine on top of the melon and pours over a sauce of supreme stock thickened with cornstarch. His recipe is written as a joke and gives almost no amounts. The home version writes the amounts out for four, uses raw crab claws from an Asian supermarket (or cooked claws), makes the sauce from chicken stock with ginger and spring onion, and shortens the steaming time for the shelled meat. Not yet tested from this page.

Ingredients

Method

  1. If your raw claws are fresh, freeze them for 3 hours; if they are frozen, let them thaw for 20–30 minutes, until just soft on the surface.
  2. While they are still half-frozen, crack the shell around the thick part of each claw with the back of the knife or the mallet.
  3. Peel the shell away so the meat comes out in one piece, leaving the tip of the pincer attached if you can.
  4. Put the claw meat in the fridge while it finishes thawing.
  5. Cut the skin off the winter melon, scrape out the seeds and spongy core and cut the flesh into 4 squares about 7 × 7 cm and 3 cm thick.
  6. Bring the water in the steamer to the boil.
  7. Set the melon squares on the heatproof plate and steam for 20 minutes, until translucent and tender when pierced with a knife.
  8. Sprinkle the claw meat with the wine and a pinch of salt.
  9. Lay 2 claws on each square of melon.
  10. Steam for 6–8 minutes, until the crab meat is white and opaque all the way through; for cooked claws, 3–4 minutes is enough.
  11. Meanwhile, simmer the stock with the ginger and spring onion for 5 minutes, then lift them out.
  12. Season the stock with salt and white pepper.
  13. Stir the cornstarch mixture, whisk it into the simmering stock and cook for 1 minute, until glossy and lightly thickened.
  14. Lift the melon squares with their crab onto warm plates, pour any juices from the steaming plate into the sauce and spoon the sauce over the top.
What we changed for home
  • Mud crab replaced with 8 large raw crab claws, fresh or frozen; cooked crab claws or 300 g crab meat also work Live mud crab is sold mainly in Asia and Australia. Frozen raw claws are in many Asian supermarkets; cooked claws only need warming through.
  • Supreme soup replaced with chicken stock simmered with ginger and spring onion Supreme stock is a Cantonese restaurant base cooked for hours from chicken, pork and Jinhua ham. Good chicken stock with ginger gives a clean, savoury sauce, and the introduction speaks of ginger in the broth.
  • Claw meat steamed for 6–8 minutes instead of 12 Shelled claw meat is much thinner than a claw in its shell; 12 minutes makes it dry and stringy.
  • Claws cracked half-frozen with the back of a heavy knife or a meat mallet That is the point of the chef's freezing trick: half-frozen meat comes away from the shell cleanly. A heavy knife does the job of his hammer.
  • Amounts given for the melon, stock, cornstarch and wine The original lists them without quantities.
  • Winter melon can be replaced with chayote Winter melon is sold by the slice in Asian supermarkets. Chayote has a similar mild, juicy flesh; steam it for 12–15 minutes.

The dish in the photograph was cooked by the restaurant for this story. Photo: Oleksandr Slyadnyev.

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