Nước Chấm Crab Cake Recipe

Crab cakes are great for a variety of occasions, and we love how they make a great appetizer, or a killer main course. Recipe developer Catherine Brookes of Blue Sky Eating came up with this easy recipe for nước chấm crab cakes that takes your average crab cakes to a whole new level of deliciousness. This recipe uses flavors from the traditional Vietnamese dipping sauce, nước chấm, to create a savory and robust crab cake. "These crab cakes feature delicious Vietnamese flavors, and are really simple to make," Brookes raves. The recipe also yields 6 to 8 crab cakes, meaning there's plenty to share.

"My favorite thing about the recipe is how well all of the ingredients work together to create such a flavorful crab cake," Brookes raves. "There's the salty and sweet taste of crab, with warmth from the chili and ginger, and even more umami flavor from the fish sauce and soy sauce," Brookes notes.  

Keep reading to find out how to make this fantastic crab cakes recipe.

If you have made crab cakes before, you probably know most of the ingredients that go into these delicious cakes. For starters, you will need to get lump crab meat. "I used fresh crab meat, but canned will work great here too," Brookes notes. You will also need mild chili pepper, garlic, ginger, green onions, breadcrumbs, an egg, cilantro, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, cornflour, vegetable oil, and salt and pepper to taste. You will also need lime wedges and additional chopped cilantro to garnish, if desired. 

Once you have those things, you can make this nước chấm crab cake recipe.

Load the lump crab meat, roughly chopped mild chili pepper, roughly chopped garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped ginger, roughly chopped green onions, breadcrumbs, egg, cilantro, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, salt, and pepper into the food processor. "If you don't have a food processor, you could add the ingredients to a bowl, and mash well with a potato masher," Brookes notes. "If you use this method, you'll want to mince the garlic and ginger, and chop the chili, green onion and cilantro finely." Blitz until fully combined.

Once you finish mixing together the ingredients in the food processor, use your hands to mold the crab mixture into 6 to 8 patties. Then, dust the top of each patty well with the cornflour. "Dusting the crab cakes in cornflour helps them crisp up on the outside as they're fried," Brookes explains. 

Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan. Add the crab cakes to the pan, and cook for 4 minutes on each side. Cook in batches, if needed. "When frying, keep the heat on a medium setting so that the crab cakes can cook through to the middle without browning too fast on the outside," Brookes suggests. 

These crab cakes are best served hot and fresh. All you need to do is plate them as you wish, and optionally garnish with a fresh lime wedge, chopped cilantro, or a dipping sauce of your choice. Brookes also added that "They are great served with sweet chili sauce, mayonnaise or even simply soy sauce," and she likes "to eat them with a fresh green side salad." 

If you have leftovers, be sure to save them for a bonus meal. "Leftovers can be kept [for] 2 days in the fridge, and reheated in the oven," Brookes shares. We hope this becomes your new, go-to crab cake recipe.