In China, people often enjoy crabs after autumn. When eating crabs, they must be fresh, and it is best to choose live crabs. There are many ways to cook crabs, and no matter how you cook them, it will not change the freshness of the crab. Chicken and crab stew is one of the better choices among the various ways to eat crabs, with a simple method and great taste.

Chop the small scallion bulbs and garlic bulbs, cut the rest into segments, and slice the ginger.

Clean the chicken and cut into pieces.

Clean the shrimp, remove the heads and intestines, and clean the clams.

Boil water and add the clams.

Stand by the pot with a slotted spoon, as the clams are boiling, scoop them out immediately, cool them with cold water, and collect the clam soup in a bowl; avoid the bottom of the pot as it may contain sand.

Clean the crab, flip the crab belly open before untying the rope, remove the shell, brush off the mud with a toothbrush, then break off the legs (this requires skill and caution to avoid being pinched; it’s best to hold one side with your left hand and the other side with your right hand) and untie the rope. Clean with a toothbrush, scrape the hair on the crab legs clean with a knife, and after all the processing is done, cut the crab body in two, flatten the crab legs for better flavor.

Heat oil in a pan, add scallion bulbs, garlic bulbs, and ginger slices, and sauté until fragrant.

First stir-fry the chicken, add salt, and add half of the rice wine.

After 5 minutes, add the crab and continue to stir-fry. Add the remaining rice wine, stir-fry until the crab shell turns red and the roe oozes out into the soup. Add clam soup and continue to stir-fry for another 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.

Pour the ingredients into a clay pot, lay the clam, shrimp, and sprinkle with celery and garlic stems (leave the leaves for last), then add boiling water to just cover the ingredients.

Cover with a lid, bring to a boil with high heat, then uncover the pot and turn to medium-low heat to cook for 15 minutes.

Add garlic leaves and cook until soft.

Turn off the heat, sprinkle with scallion slices, as shown in the picture, and this pot of chicken and crab stew is completed.

Precautions

This dish is all about the sweetness of the soup (Guangdong dialect: ‘soup sweet’, which is not truly sweet but fresh). There is no need to add any other seasoning agents during the process. Some people might think this would be a waste of the crab roe, but in fact, all the essence is condensed in the soup.