Colorful Crab Stir-Fry

Thanksgiving. Everyone came. Everyone ate. Everyone is still in love with everyone they came with, and nobody left angry, and nobody dropped anything, and that is the measure of a good Thanksgiving in 2021.

Wednesday: I drove out late afternoon. Karen and David's fridge was packed. We had three hours of prep to do. We did it listening to a playlist Karen had put together — Motown, mostly, with some Emmylou Harris. David occasionally poked his head in to ask if we needed anything. Kevin and Lisa arrived at 9 PM, road-weary and glowing. Lisa is taller than I expected — nearly six feet — and has a low alto laugh and a calm presence I felt the second she walked in. She hugged Karen. She hugged me. She shook David's hand, then laughed and hugged him too. She said, "I'm sorry. I'm a hugger. Blame the school counseling." David said, "No apologies needed. We're huggers too." Kevin stood behind her looking at me with an expression I did not have a name for. Pride, maybe. Relief. Something like please-like-her-because-I-love-her.

I like her. I liked her in the first five minutes. She is good for him. I can tell.

Thursday: up at 6 AM. Turkey in the oven by 9. James arrived at 11. Ming and Wei-Chen FaceTimed from San Jose at 1 — they had their own Thanksgiving going on, but Ming wanted to see us, so we propped the laptop on the kitchen island and she watched me work for twenty minutes, commenting on technique ("oil hot enough?" "more salt"). Jisoo FaceTimed at 3 from Busan — it was 8 AM Saturday for her, a weekend morning, and she had coffee in her hand. Karen, who has not met Jisoo before on FaceTime, was the one who answered. She said, "Hi, Jisoo. I'm Karen." Jisoo said, through her halting English, "Hello, Karen. I am glad to meet you. Thank you." They looked at each other for a long moment. Karen said, "Thank you for her." Jisoo said, "Thank you for her." Karen cried. Jisoo cried. I left the room for a minute and let them have their first moment without me. When I came back, they were laughing. Karen was showing Jisoo the turkey on the counter. Jisoo was asking, through Hye-jin who had joined the call briefly, about the herbs in the butter under the skin. The two women who are my mothers were swapping notes on herbs under my turkey skin, and I had to go stand on the porch for five minutes to breathe.

Dinner was at 5. Nine people at the table — David, Karen, Kevin, Lisa, James, me, plus a few of Karen's close friends. The food was what we had planned. Everyone ate everything. Lisa had three helpings of my japchae and said, "I've never had this. Why have I never had this?" I said, "Because you live in Portland. Portland has no idea what it's doing." She laughed. Kevin said, "Be nice to Portland." I said, "I'm being nice. I'm just correct."

I made Lisa a personal apple pie. Karen helped me. It had L-I-S-A in lattice on top. When I brought it out, Lisa cried a little and then ate the whole pie by herself over the next two days. Kevin, I hear, was not allowed a slice. Kevin, I hear, did not complain.

The recipe this week is my Thanksgiving japchae — sweet potato starch noodles, stir-fried with beef, mushrooms, spinach, carrot, onion, in a soy-sesame sauce. A dish that is a little too elegant for a Thanksgiving table and fits anyway because the table is ours and we set it however we want.

I said the recipe this week was the japchae, and it was — but what I keep thinking about, standing at the stove with nine people in the next room and two mothers on FaceTime and Kevin looking at me like please, is that the right dish for a table like that is whatever moves fast and feeds everyone and looks like you meant it to be festive. This stir-fry is that dish: bright with color, quick in the pan, and elegant enough that nobody guesses how little time it took. It is not japchae. But it is the same idea — something a little too vibrant for the occasion, which is exactly why it belongs there.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 27 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb lump crab meat (fresh, canned, or high-quality imitation), picked over
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 cup snap peas, trimmed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
3 tbsp soy sauce (low-sodium preferred)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp neutral oil (vegetable or avocado), divided
1/4 tsp white pepper
3 green onions, sliced on the bias, for garnish
1 tsp sesame seeds, for garnish

Instructions

Make the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and the cornstarch slurry. Set aside near the stove.
Heat the wok. Place a wok or large skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add 1 tablespoon of the neutral oil and swirl to coat.
Stir-fry the aromatics. Add the garlic and ginger and stir constantly for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Do not let them burn.
Cook the vegetables. Add the onion and all three bell peppers. Stir-fry over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, tossing frequently, until the peppers are just tender with some char at the edges. Add the snap peas and cook for 1 minute more.
Add the crab. Push the vegetables to the side of the wok and add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the center. Add the crab meat and let it sit undisturbed for 1 minute to develop a little color, then fold it gently into the vegetables. Season with white pepper.
Glaze and finish. Pour the sauce over everything and toss quickly for 60 to 90 seconds, until the sauce thickens and coats all the ingredients evenly. Pull from heat immediately.
Serve. Transfer to a platter or serve directly from the wok over steamed jasmine rice. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Colorful Crab Stir-Fry — The Dish That Carries the Room