Crab sticks in batter

The popular snack, crab sticks in batter, is served both hot and cold. It is usually consumed with beer or various vegetables. This dish falls into the "quick and easy" category, but to ensure the batter completely covers the stick without slipping off, and is tender inside with a crispy crust outside and porous, as if using yeast, you need to know some subtleties of its preparation.

The batter in this recipe is prepared with whipped eggs, with the egg whites added last. Therefore, the dough is very airy and resembles sponge cake in texture. Frying occurs in deep oil, where each subsequent stick is added only after the previous one has slightly set in the heated oil. Otherwise, upon contacting each other, the batter will definitely slide off. And it's very important to buy quality crab sticks – loose and soft specimens will fall apart when frying, tearing the batter covering.

Yield: 10 pieces.

Cooking time: 15 minutes.

Calories: 168 kcal per 100 grams of the dish.

Ingredients

• eggs C 1 – 3 pcs;
• purified water – 50 ml;
• flour w/s – 75 g;
• fine salt – a heaping teaspoon;
• dried ground garlic – 1 teaspoon;
• crab sticks – 200 g (10 pcs.);
• odorless vegetable oil for frying.

Preparation

1. Prepare the ingredients for making crab sticks in batter. You can do without dried garlic, but it gives the dish a special piquancy. If the crab sticks have been stored in the freezer, they should be thawed.

2. Separate the egg whites from the yolks, placing them in different containers.

3. Starting with a low speed on the mixer and gradually increasing it, beat the egg whites until they reach thick, stable peaks that do not fall or slide off the whisks.

4. Salt the yolks, flavor with dried garlic, and pour in the water.

5. Add all the flour.

6. Now mix the formed mixture using the same mixer. Do not mix for too long – all components should just combine. As a result, a very thick structure will form, but it will become fluffy after adding the egg whites.

7. Now add half of the whipped egg whites to this mixture. Using a spatula, gently and slowly mix the mass.

8. Next, add the remaining egg whites and carefully fold them into the batter.

9. The result is a light, homogeneous, airy batter resembling sponge cake.

10. Remove the plastic wrap from the crab sticks.

11. Pour vegetable oil into a saucepan so that the submerged sticks can float without touching the bottom. First, set the heat to maximum. Check the oil temperature with a wooden skewer – small bubbles should gather on its surface. Then set the heat slightly above medium and you can start frying.

12. Dip the crab stick into the batter, covering its entire surface. To prevent the batter from smearing, it's best to pierce the preparation with a toothpick, then lift it to let excess batter drip off.

13. Lower the preparation into the oil. After 5-7 seconds, the surface of the batter will slightly set, and it will be safe for the new crab stick to touch the fresh batter.

14. Now you can place the next preparation into the saucepan. Fry the sticks until golden brown on all sides – this will take about 2 minutes.

15. Place the finished sticks on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

16. The crab sticks in batter are ready. They are served to the table with herbs and ranch sauce. The stick itself retained its juiciness, thanks to the wonderful batter, which, like a wrapper, securely packed the inner contents. The crispy crust and porous center of the thin batter made the dish incredibly tasty.