When Dungeness crab season hits Northern California in November, we spend the rest of the year coming up with excuses to buy a few and cook them up. Then crab keeps being in-season and yet we've eaten quite a bit of it. That's when I start mixing things up—making different crab salads and crab cakes and these deliciously crab-rich rice noodles. This dish also lets you use a small amount of crab to serve plenty of people.

Note: "chile bean paste" is also sold as "chile bean sauce," sometimes with the word "red" thrown in there. In any case, look for both soy beans and fava beans or broad beans in the ingredient list. If you can't find that, using a red chile garlic sauce works too.

See Also

How to Clean a Crab

How to Serve Fresh Crab

Stone Crabs

Ingredients

• 1 package (8 ounces) maifun/vermicelli rice noodles
• 2 Tablespoons peanut or canola oil
• 3 Tablespoons chile bean paste
• 1/4 cup rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce, plus more to taste
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock, or fish stock
• 1/3 pound fresh crab meat
• 6 green onions, chopped
• Chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes

• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Preparation

1. Put the rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with hot water. Let sit 10 to 15 minutes. Drain.
2. Heat a large frying pan, saute pan, or wok over high heat. Add the oil, swirl to cover the pan, and add the chile bean paste, rice wine, and soy sauce and stir to combine. Cook until simmering and reduced just a bit. Add the stock and bring to a boil.
3. Add the noodles and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring frequently, until the noodles are fully tender and flavors combine, about 5 minutes.

1. Add crab and green onions and stir to combine.
2. Serve hot, topped with cilantro if you like. Have extra soy sauce and some hot sauce at the table for people to add to taste.