Name: Soft-Shell Crab on Crab Rice
Yield: Serves 4-6 as one of 4-5 robata dishes
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 300 g (10½ oz./1½ cups) round-grain Japanese sushi rice; Sake-Mirin Spray; 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing; 2 tsp yuzu juice or juice of ½ lemon; ½ bunch of fresh dill, stalks removed, finely chopped; 200 g (7 oz.) hand-picked crab meat; 2 tbsp mixed sesame seeds; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 8 large soft-shell crabs; 50 g (2 oz.) edamame beans; 100 ml (scant ½ cup) sushi vinegar; ⅓ cucumber, halved lengthways, deseeded and chopped into small cubes

Preparation info

Serves
4-6
as one of 4-5 robata dishes

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Robata

By Silla Bjerrum

Published 2018

About

Most soft-shell crabs are eaten breaded and shallow-fried, particularly in the USA, or in the Japanese tradition they’re dipped in tempura batter or cornflour (cornstarch) and deep-fried. However, these are absolutely fantastic on the robata too, and here they’re served on a crab-flavoured rice. In the UK, Devon crab is my preference; it is sweet and succulent during the summer season. Ideally, use the best-quality crab from the coastal areas nearest to where you live, or source it from a g