Cooking with Crab Fat Paste Recipes

Hubby loves crabs and seafood, generally. And of course, he likes the aligue (crab fat). When we eat at home, I give him the female crab because of the orange aligue. And recently, I bought a kilo of crab fat and did some homecooking with it. So here’s my cooking with crab fat paste experience that aligue lovers out there would surely dig.

Note: This is not for everyone, however. Especially if you have health concerns like high blood cholesterol and pressure. Even if you don’t, just eat in moderation and do not do it every day as well. Hubby and I also drink a hot beverage, like ginger tea, after the meal. Helps digest the fat.

• Related: Spicy Crab Maritess Recipe

Crab Fat Paste Recipes

So here are some cooking with crab fat paste recipes. You may want to just buy ready-made crab fat paste. But remember that I started with a kilo of fresh crab, so I needed to make it into a paste to make it last longer in the fridge. Plus, I get a uniform base taste for my crab fat.

Crab Fat Paste Recipe

This is my base recipe for the crab fat paste. You can easily do this at home using basic ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup achuete oil (anato oil)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 15 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 kilo fresh crab fat (aligue)
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• Cayenne pepper (for kick, optional)

Procedure:

1. Heat the anato oil and butter over low heat. Stir in the garlic and cook for about a minute.
2. Add the crab fat and stir occasionally. You may add more oil and butter if the mixture is too dry. By the way, the anato oil is what gives the paste the yummy orange color, not the orange aligue.
3. Season with a little salt and pepper. You may add cayenne if you want your paste to be spicy.
4. When everything is cooked through, remove from heat. Cool completely before storing them in bottles. Refrigerate to make it last longer. I am not sure how long though. So far, ours has stayed in the ref for about two weeks now.

Crab Fat Pasta Recipe

We all love pasta. So it’s but natural that I would prepare crab fat pasta. This is soooo yummy! It’s kinda sweet and spicy and it’s perfect. Our eldest Dindin quite like this, though she had to keep drinking milk to neutralize the hotness of the pepper. On the other hand, Shane only ate the pasta without the sauce. We really would like them to have a more sophisticated palate so that we can all enjoy family meal times having the same kinds of food.

Ingredients:

• 3 pcs. Chinese chorizo, sliced thinly and diagonally
• 4 Tbsps. anato oil
• 6 Tbsps. butter
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 box all-purpose cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 to 1 cup cheese, grated
• 1 medium red bell pepper, sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 Tbsps. chopped parsley
• 400 grams spaghetti, cooked according to package instructions

Procedure:

1. Lightly fry the Chinese chorizo in some oil, just to let the aroma out. Set aside.
2. Heat the anato oil and butter. Saute the garlic and onion for about a minute. Add the chorizo. Stir-fry for another minute.
3. Pour in the cream, milk, and cheese. Mix well. Bring to a slow boil, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. You may add more cayenne pepper, if you prefer. Stir in the bell pepper and parsley. Cook for another two minutes. Remove from heat.
4. I didn’t mix the sauce and the pasta. Instead, I served them separately. Do the same when storing. Better eaten warm.

The sauce is cheesy and creamy. Plus, it had the perfect balance of sweetness from the chorizo. This mixture is enough for a 400-500 grams of cooked pasta. But since a lot of us in the family didn’t want to risk a high blood pressure, many of them scrimped on the sauce. So I still had some extra for my next dish.

Crab Fat Rice Melt Recipe

I had some of the pasta sauce left over so I thought of reinventing it. Cooking with crab fat paste is just so versatile.

In a microwave-safe container, I spooned over a thin layer of steamed rice, about an inch high. It was lightly packed, so that the sauce can seep through.

Spoon over the crab fat sauce on top of the rice. Top this with some cheese slices and sprinkle with dried basil leaves on top. Pop in the microwave oven for about a minute–or until cheese melts. Serve hot.

Butter-Garlic Shrimps with Crab Fat and Crab Fat Rice

Shrimps are included in hubby’s favorites so I gladly cook it for him. Here’s how I incorporated the crab fat in the shrimps. Though I must admit, it would have been better if I shelled the shrimps.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 Tbsps. oil
• 10 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 kg. shrimps
• Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Thyme
• McCormick Gambas mix, dissolved in 1/4 cup water
• 2 heaped Tbsps. of crab fat
• Parsley, chopped

Procedure:

In a skillet, heat the butter and oil and saute the garlic for about a minute.

Stir in the shrimps and season with black pepper, cayenne pepper, and thyme.

When the shrimps are starting to change color, stir in the gambas mix and the crab fat paste.

Mix well and stir in the parsley. Cook for another minute and remove from heat. Do not overcook your shrimps. This dish cooks very fast.

Note: I cooked my shrimps with the shells on. But this could have come out better if I peeled the shrimps for more flavor. Use the sauce on your rice–it’s so flavorful.

Crab Fat Rice

For the rice, I just mix some crab fat paste to the steamed rice. You may mix some thyme into the rice. Then I served it hot with the shrimps.

Crab Fat Fried Rice

This was the first thing I cooked because I had limited ingredients at home. And well, the crab fat was already with me.

Ingredients:

• Oil
• Fish and squid balls, sliced into half
• Chopped garlic
• Crab fat paste
• Corn (optional)
• Rice
• Salt, black pepper, thyme

Procedure:

1. Heat the oil and fry the squid and fish balls.
2. Stir in the garlic and fry a little bit more. Then add the crab fat paste and corn. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until everything is heated through, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat.
3. Mix in the rice and season with salt, black pepper, and thyme.
4. Serve hot.

Note: I didn’t put measurements anymore because this is fried rice. You can have as much as you want. For more flavor, add more crab fat paste. There is so much freedom in fried rice.