Father’s Day is coming right around the corner and I was challenged (by Crowd Cow) to create a dish that was reminiscent of my dad or a recipe my dad enjoyed. Since I couldn’t make it with my dad this year (we live 3,000+ miles apart, my family in Minnesota and me in O.C.) I decided to pay homage to my dad with using his favorite protein….CRABS.

I don’t know any Vietnamese person that doesn’t enjoy seafood. Especially growing up in land-locked Minnesota, seafood was most definitely a rare occurrence. Sure, we had a TONNNN of lakes but there are no delicious crustaceans there.

Today, were using Wild caught and harvested Golden Alaskan King Crabs (I didn’t even know they came in this color!) as well as some Dungeness Crab Legs from Crowd Cow! P.S. you can use “JENHDAO25” to get $25 off your first order on there! *Wink *Wink

The cool part is that they come pre-cooked and pre-cut so putting together this recipe was a breeze in terms of prepping the shellfish. All we had to do was steam it for 4-5 mins and you’re ready to go!

I decided to make a Vietnamese Cajun sauce to go with it. If you don’t know Viet Cajun is something that came out of the South when thousands of Vietnamese refugees landed on the Gulf Coast. It became a fusion of the creole and Southern cuisine there with Vietnamese flair. This is by far one of my absolute favorite ways to consume shellfish!

Let me know below how you like to eat your crustaceans and until next time!

Vietnamese Cajun Crabs

Recipe by Jen H. DaoCourse: DinnerCuisine: Vietnamese, Cajun, SouthernDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Ingredients

• 4 sticks of unsalted butter

• 1/2 cup of minced garlic

• 1/2 tablespoon of cajun boil seasoning

• 1 1/8 tablespoon of lemon pepper powder

• 1 1/8 tablespoon of paprika

• 1 1/8 tablespoon of cayenne pepper

• 1 1/8 tablespoon of onion powder

• 1 large orange

• 1 large lemon

• 1/2 cup of fish sauce

• 1/4 cup + 1/2 tablespoon of sugar

• 4 Thai Kaffir lime leaves

• 2lbs Frozen Alaskan King Crabs

• 2lbs Frozen Dungeness Crab Legs

Directions

• Melt butter on med/low
• Add garlic, sauté for 1-2 mins
• Add cajun boil seasoning, lemon pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper & onion powder
• Juice the orange & lemon. Add rinds to sauce
• Add fish sauce & sugar (more/less to taste)
• Finally add Kaffir Lime leaves and simmer on low for 5 mins
• Steam seafood for 5 mins & pour sauce on top

Recipe Video