Skip to main content

Recipe: Thai Style Crab Pancakes

Support Provided By
Thai Crab Pancake

Eating at Providence is always a treat, but so is cooking something outside of your usual repertoire. These fancy pancakes are thin and crispy, held together by the crab meat. Chef Michael Cimarusti suggests serving it with a salad of shredded carrots, bean sprouts, mint leaves, and shredded Napa cabbage with a spicy lime vinaigrette. Divide the batter into smaller portions if you're serving it as an appetizer, or make the pancakes bigger if you're eating it as a main. Enjoy!

Thai Style Crab Pancakes

4 tablespoons flour
1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup ice water
2 whole eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
½ stalk lemongrass, finely minced
1 tablespoon ginger, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ jalapeno, finely minced
1 cup cured pork belly
½ tablespoon cilantro, chopped
4 whole green onions, finely sliced
1 pound freshly cooked Dungeness or blue crab meat
¼ cup vegetable oil, for frying

Mix the flour, cornstarch, water, eggs, salt, and pepper. This result should be the consistency of pancake batter.   

Mix in the chopped lemongrass, ginger, garlic, and jalapeno. Steep the mixture for 10 minutes, then strain the batter. Add the chopped pork, cilantro, and green onions to the batter. 

Heat oil in a pan until very hot and pour batter into oil.  Add crab on top of batter. Cook for two minutes or until golden brown. Flip and cook the pancake for approximately one minute. Serve and garnish with salad.

Support Provided By
Read More
Two of the "Living Muertos" performers dressed as skeletons pose during a nighttime procession.

Here's Where You Can Experience Día de los Muertos 2022 Celebrations In SoCal This Week

Here are five places in Southern California to experience the ofrendas, pan de muerto, and cempasúchitl of this ancestral celebration. 
Two rows of colorfully lit Christmas trees at Hikari – A Festival of Lights at Tanaka Farms. | Sandi Hemmerlein

Six SoCal Holiday Lights Drive-Thrus and Drive-Bys for 2020

Haul out the holly and fill up the stockings. We need a little Christmas! Here are some of the best drive-thru holiday experiences in Southern California.
Ballona Lagoon “Lighthouse” Bridge | Sandi Hemmerlein

Where to Explore 5 of L.A.’s Great Footbridges

Here’s where to find five of L.A.’s most scenic bridge crossings — and why they’re fascinating destinations in their own right.