Korean crab stew (Kkotgetang: 꽃게탕)

Hi everybody! Today, we are going to make delicious seafood stew. Made with what? Crabs! Korean crabs. Here you go! This is Korean crabs, kkotge. We call this kkotge. Kkotge. Isn't it a cute name? Today, I'm going to make Korean crab stew, kkotgetang. Fresh crabs are so tasty, but in America, I can't find fresh flower crabs. So I just got this from a Korean grocery store. They're all clean and frozen. I thawed these out in the fridge. Probably you guys are more familiar with blue crabs. Because in America, all the crabs are like, easily you can get blue crabs. Problem is that blue crabs' shells are too hard. But Korean crabs are softer, very meaty, inside lots and lots of meat. And price is so cheap! Just more than one pound, it is only $4.99. You can make that for four people, four servings. I tried to find my t-shirts to match with my today's theme. These guys are cousins of crabs. I'm going to put these guys back into my fridge until I'm ready to cook this. First, I'm going to make rice. White, fluffy rice today. First, milky water, I will throw away. Second one. Okay, I will just reserve this water to make this kkotgetang. Put some water here. So I'm going to let it soak, maybe 10 or 20 minutes, and then I will just start making rice. Meanwhile, let's make stew. We need around 3 or 3.5 cups of water. When I make kkotgetang, I always use milky water. But you don't have to, you can use just plain, clear water. Just a little more, 3.5 cups, let's use. This is dried anchovies. Dried anchovies are optional. If you don't have, just skip it. Still delicious, because delicious stuff is coming from crabs. But if you add more, 7 anchovies add, more tasty. And then this is anchovy bag. Sold also in Korean grocery store. I will just keep these anchovies inside of this bag. Anchovy bag. But if you don't have, just put it there later. Remember, 7 anchovies, take it out, okay? Let's remove the inside. So head, and see? Here. It's kind of black stuff. This is intestine. So I'm going to add here. Put it here. You guys are following my recipes? You saw that me use a lot of times dried anchovies to make stock delicious, right? At the beginning, probably you were scared, you know, how can I remove this? But now, many of you guys know very easily. I'm good at removing guts! So I will put this all in this bag. And then, cover like this. So that it's secure. And put it inside. Next, we are going to add some radish. I already washed and peeled. When you make kkotgetang, you need this radish. Just a little bit, 4 or 5 ounces. And cut thinly. Slice. Little bite-sized pieces. So add this here. And then, we are going to add doenjang, Korean fermented bean paste. Around 2 tablespoons. And this is hot pepper paste, gochujang, 1 tablespoon. And then, let's boil. Medium heat. I will just boil for 20 minutes. And then, I will add crabs and vegetables. Zucchini. This is around 4 ounces zucchini. Just a little bit, because zucchini is very tasty when you make this stew. And this green onion. Just one green chili pepper. Green chili pepper, you have to use. It gives a really good flavor. And onion, one small onion. 4 large cloves of garlic. Garlic. You see the steam? Mmm, good smell. Wow. The radish is not cooked yet. I'm going to lower the heat to low. So let's take care of our crabs. They're all cleaned. But we still need to clean more. Still a little frozen. So a couple of hours ago, I transferred this from the freezer. You see? Like this. This part, we usually cut it off. Like this. And then, just bite-sized pieces. Like this. So, tip of this. Because I always use this, also shells, large shells, also use. And everything I use. But always cut off the tip. Because after making, this tip doesn't look good, you know? So you need to clean up. We are going to wash, rinse just quickly. Because it's already clean. I don't want to wash many, many times. Because in case of that, all delicious stuff is gone. One more time. Let's open this. It's a little translucent. So we are going to cook longer. And just let's take it out, these anchovies. And then, these vegetables. Vegetables and garlic. And turn up to medium-high heat. And these crabs. Close the lid. Cook this over medium-high heat. And until all the crabs are well cooked. Radish looks translucent. The stew, the soup is very, very tasty. Now, it's time to make rice. Rice is boiling over. And stir this. And lower the heat. Soup is, wow. Smells really good. This kkotgetang smells so good. This smells really kkotgetang smell. So use a wet towel. So always clean. So I'm going to turn down the heat. A little bit. So 15 minutes. 15 minutes I'm going to cook. Total 35 minutes. Let's prepare the red chili pepper. And crescent moon green. It's called sukkal in Korean. Really fragrant. I will just add in the last minute these two guys. Because colorful. You can eat all. This stem part is also really tasty. And when you make ssam, wrap with lettuce wrap, with ssamjang, you eat whole this thing. Really tasty. I love that. Then I'm going to show you my side dishes that I made. This is eggplant. So time to eat. And this is cucumber. And this is jangjorim. Braised beef brisket. Rice is done. Turn off. My rice. And then the stew. Just one teaspoon. And this. That's it. Woo! Om. Very flavorful. Earthy. Because we added soybean paste. And spicy. And from the crab, really delicious sweet stuff coming out. And this radish. I like to eat radish. Radish always I have some in the corner of my refrigerator. Anytime, any stock I'm making, I just add. Rice. A little spicy, sweet and savory. A little crabby. Tasty. So how you can eat? You can grab this and there's some meat here. These kkotge, flower crabs, the shells are soft. You can suck the meat easily. And I'll show you how to eat it. Not good? With your teeth. And this small guy. I don't know how much meat is inside. And soup. Really delicious. Kimchi. I made all freshly made. That's why it's tasty. Definitely this is not for the first time date food. Can you imagine? Suddenly once he or she sees this, like this. Later when you get to know him or her better, you don't have to worry about this. Today we made kkotgetang. Korean crab stew. Enjoy my recipe. See you next time. Bye.