Cantonese Style Lobster is my go-to New Year’s dish that I make every single year. I usually buy live lobster at the Asian supermarket in town, because it is cheaper, but you can use frozen lobster for this dish as well. This year for my friends, I bought two pound lobsters to the tune of $75. It was more than I usually spend on food, but this dish is so very worth it.
Large chunks of lobster, still in its beautiful red shell, are stir-fried with ginger, scallions (green onions), garlic and a light sauce. The end result is amazing. It was a major hit at my dinner party and all of my friends loved it! Some of my friends loved playing with the lobster head the most.
There are many ways to cook Cantonese style lobster. Some recipes call for egg; others for pork. In my humble opinion, my recipe is quick and easy. You make the sauce ahead of time; then stir-fry everything together. It does taste very gingery so if you’re not a huge fan of ginger or garlic, you can cut it in half.
The hardest part for me, due to my lack of expensive knives, was chopping the lobster up. As you can see in my video (below, after the recipe), chopping up the lobster was difficult. I had to switch between two different knives. I had to flash boil the lobster because I had to buy it the day ahead of time. (The Asian market was closed on New Year’s.) Traditionally, you would kill a live lobster for this dish. There are some Chinese recipes that call for you to cut up the live (still moving around) lobster, which would essentially kill it. But I think that’s too inhuman, so I just boiled the lobster for a few minutes to kill it.
Prepare this recipe ahead of time and impress your friends! You can also use crab if you don’t have lobster on hand.
Because I love the Cantonese Style Lobster so much, I even made a video on how to make it. Bear with it – this was my first video, and as it is hard to chop and cook while talking, I accidentally misspeak a few things. But overall, it gives you a general idea on how to make this recipe.
Cantonese Style Lobster
Ingredients
- 2 Lobsters any size, cut into four to six pieces
- 3 bunches of scallions cut into 2 inch strips
- Knob of ginger thinly sliced
- 1 head garlic smashed with knife
- 1/2 cup of flour or cornstarch
- 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
For the sauce:
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce
- 4 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- In a small bowl, make the sauce. Combine the chicken stock, soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine and sugar. Stir and set aside.
- Prepare the lobster and chop up your ingredients. I parboiled my lobster to kill it, but you can kill it in any manner you wish – i.e. freezing, a knife to its brain, etc. Chop the lobster into four to six pieces. Keep the shell attached to the lobster.
- Coat the lobster in cornstarch or flour. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large pan or wok on medium-high heat. Add the ginger and smashed garlic to the wok. Cook until fragrant, about one minute.
- Add cornstarch-coated lobster to the wok. Stir until thoroughly mixed. (Add more oil if you need it.) Cover and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent anything from sticking on the bottom of the wok.
- Uncover and add the sauce (wine mixture) to the wok. Cook, stirring constantly until the mixture starts to thicken.
- When the sauce is thick, the lobster is almost ready. Add in your scallions and cook for another minute.
- Remove from heat. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
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