Make kani salad with kanikama (imitation crab meat), cucumber, carrot, fresh ripe mangoes, lettuce, Japanese mayonnaise and a little sesame seed oil. It’s outstanding!
Cook’s notes
But you know what the curious part is? Authentic traditional Japanese kani salad is a far simpler dish. All-in kani salads, like mine, are more fusion than anything else. And “all-in” means there’s more than just kani in the salad.
Use the best quality crab sticks, the freshest vegetables and ripe (never overripe) sweet mangoes for the best kani salad. And Japanese mayo is a must. Regular mayo just doesn’t have the umami flavor of its Japanese sibling that sets it above the rest.
Kani salad
Ingredients
- 100 to 150 grams kani (imitation crab sticks) 3.5 to 5 oz
- 1 medium carrot peeled
- 2 medium cucumbers or 1 large; peeled or unpeeled and seeds scooped out
- 1 handful lettuce varieties that can retain their shape like iceberg and romaine are recommended
- 1 drizzle sesame seed oil
- ¼ cup Japanese mayonnaise
Instructions
- Remove the plastic film wrapper of the kani and discard.
- Press each kani from tip to tip between your fingers. Pull apart to shred.
- Thinly slice carrot, and julienne (cut into matchsticks).
- Do the same with the cucumber.
- Cut the mango; discard the stone.
- Slash diagonally, the slashes about a quarter inch apart, all the way but without cutting through the skin.
- Using a spoon, scoop out shallowly to come up with thin strips.
- Rinse the lettuce and dry in a salad spinner. Cut the leaves horizontally into half-inch slices.
- Place the shredded kani, julienned carrot and cucumber, sliced mango and lettuce in a mixing bowl.
- Drizzle in the sesame seed oil.
- Toss to distribute the ingredients evenly. Use your hands to toss to avoid bruising the ingredients.
- Add the Japanese mayo. Toss the kani salad once more to moisten everything evenly.
Milkfish (bangus) belly and moringa (malunggay) miso soup