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Expat wanderer

Crab Cakes in Doha

We wanted to have a light dinner at home to welcome our house guests, and then take them on a night-tour of Doha. I remembered the wonderful Crab Cakes my friend and her daughter made in Seattle, and I was determined to have . . . well, I knew it wouldn’t be the same, but something LIKE those crab cakes.

So I found the best crab I could buy in Doha, and made up the crab cakes. Wrong crab. Wrong breading – I couldn’t find any panko (I know there is panko in Doha, I just know it, but I couldn’t find it when I was looking for it!) so I whirled up some lime Tostito chips in the food processor and used those.

They were actually pretty good, when I first made them. Not the same, not Pacific Northwest Dungeness Crab, but not bad.

This is four cans of crab meat – you can find the recipe for Crab Cakes by clicking on the blue type; I already printed it back in August or September.

00CrabCakes1

The crushed tostitos weren’t bad for breading, but you only use a little, on the outside, to help them firm up for cooking:

00CrabCakes2

I served them with Plum Sauce, which also wasn’t as good as the fresh home-made plum sauce my friend’s daughter made:

00PlumSauce

They were OK. If I didn’t know what Pacific Northwest Crab tasted like, fresh out of the ocean and steamed right away, I probably would have thought they were pretty good. I’m not going to make them again here.

October 13, 2009 - Posted by | Adventure, Cooking, Doha, ExPat Life, Experiment, Food, Qatar, Recipes

8 Comments »

  1. Gulf Crab Cakes 😉 Looks good

    ansam518's avatar Comment by ansam518 | October 13, 2009 | Reply

  2. You are brave. I’ve cooked Gulf crab; I use it to make stock for bouillabaisse. The thought of trying to pick crab meat out of those tiny tiny crab (compared to the Pacific Northwest crabs and holy smokes Alaska King Crab) boggles my mind. It’s a LOT of work for a little bit of crab! But . . if it is tasty crab, it might be worth it. . . hmmmmmmm.

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | October 13, 2009 | Reply

  3. I used to find crab meat cans in city center but they dont have them anymore. I think I’ll try my luck at sultan center

    Mathai's avatar Comment by Mathai | October 14, 2009 | Reply

  4. Even the best canned crab isn’t very good, Mathai . . . honestly, if you are going to the trouble to do crab cakes, fresh really makes a difference, even fresh-frozen, if you can find it.

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | October 14, 2009 | Reply

  5. Hi!
    Just came across your blog, looking for Panko breadcrumbs in Doha, how random. haha.. I just wanted to ask whether you had any luck finding them in Doha.
    Thanks!

    Dee's avatar Comment by Dee | June 23, 2010 | Reply

    • LOL, yes, Dee, I found them at Mega Mart and at the Family Food Center! Now and then, they might show up at Carrefour. There are other shops in Doha where I could find speciality items, like the Philipino grocery/markets down in the fabric souk area (Souk al Asseiri and Souk al Diraa).

      intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | June 24, 2010 | Reply

  6. lol, I know.. totally random question. Thanks for your reply tho, I’ll check them out soon. 🙂

    Dee's avatar Comment by Dee | June 26, 2010 | Reply

  7. Dee, I eat crab cakes all the time in Pensacola. I also like them with a little Hoisin Souce! Good luck!

    intlxpatr's avatar Comment by intlxpatr | June 27, 2010 | Reply


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