Easy Kani Salad Recipe Japanese Crab Stick

Kani means “crab” in Japanese, and kama is short for kamaboko, a traditional Japanese fishcake. Despite having “crab” in the name, kanikama is made from white fish such as pollock or cod. There’s some debate over who invented it, but it was created in the mid-1970s as a new style of kamaboko that has a similar taste and texture to crab meat. Combining these crab sticks with mayonnaise to make a salad has been around since the early days of kanikama, and both imitation crab and Kani Salad have become popular worldwide. In my Kani Salad recipe, I combine crunchy vegetables, including cucumbers and carrots, with slippery glass noodles to create a contrast of tastes and textures. The creamy mayonnaise in the dressing is balanced out by a refreshing hit of tangy lemon juice and zest.

Why This Recipe Works?

Salting the vegetables to coax out their water is a technique called shiomomi (literally “rubbed with salt” in Japanese). It removes excess water from the vegetables, keeping the salad from getting soggy. It also gives the vegetables a nice crunch, similar to pickles. Glass noodles add another layer of texture to the salad while bulking it up. Combining Japanese mayonnaise and lemon zest/juice creates a creamy yet refreshing mayonnaise-based dressing.

Ingredients for Kani Salad

Crab sticks - Crab sticks or kanikama is imitation crab made with surimi (fish paste) seasoned and shaped into textured sticks resembling shelled crab meat. Cucumber - Sliced cucumbers contribute a nice crunchy texture to the Kani Salad once salted and squeezed. I recommend using a thin-skinned, seedless variety of cucumbers such as Japanese, Lebanese, or Persian. Hothouse or English cucumbers will also work, but you will want to slice them in half lengthwise first and scoop out the seeds with a spoon before slicing them. Carrot - Julienned carrots add a nice crunchy texture and natural sweetness to the salad. Glass noodles- Glass noodles (a.k.a. cellophane noodles, bean thread noodles, or harusame) are transparent noodles made from starch. They have a nice, slick texture and provide volume for this salad. Boiled shirataki noodles are a low-calorie alternative that can be substituted. Black sesame seeds - Toasted black sesame seeds add visual contrast to the salad and a nutty flavor and poppy texture. You can also use toasted white sesame seeds, but they won’t have the same color contrast. Scallions - Chopped scallions give the Kani Salad a mild onion flavor that compliments the savory crab sticks. I also like keeping a little of it on the side to sprinkle on top as a garnish. Mayonnaise - Although any mayonnaise will work in a pinch, I highly recommend using a Japanese mayo such as Kewpie mayonnaise. It has a taste that’s more tart and umami-rich than American mayo, making it well suited for this salad dressing. Lemon - Adding lemon zest and lemon juice balances out the creaminess of the mayonnaise, keeping the salad dressing from becoming too heavy. The lemon zest also gives the Kani Salad a fresh taste that smoothes over any fishiness from the crab sticks. If you don’t have a lemon, you could use other tangy citrus, such as limes, and rice vinegar will work in a pinch.

How to Make Kani Salad

You first want to toss the sliced cucumber and julienned carrots with the salt to help draw out their excess water. This keeps the salad from getting soggy when you combine it with the dressing while giving the veggies a nice crunchy texture. Let these sweat while you prepare the other ingredients. Once the vegetables have become limp, you can speed things up by massaging them with your hand until the cucumbers have turned translucent. Gather the veggies with both hands and squeeze as much water out of them as possible. Then, you want to rehydrate and cook the glass noodles by soaking them in a medium bowl of boiling water. How long it takes depends on how thick your noodles are, but mine took about 7 minutes until they were tender. Once they’re cooked, you can drain and rinse them with cold water. Be sure to squeeze out any excess water with your hands before adding them to the Kani Salad. For the imitation crab sticks, you want to shred them into thin strips by hand. This takes a bit of time, but the fastest way I’ve found to do this is to roll the sticks between your hands, applying moderate pressure. This causes the sticks to fall apart, and you can shred them the rest of the way with your fingers. Add the shredded crab sticks, squeezed vegetables, cooked glass noodles, black sesame seeds, scallions, and mayonnaise to a bowl. Using a microplane, zest half a lemon over the salad, then cut the lemon in half and squeeze some of the juice over the salad. How much lemon juice you add is a matter of personal preference, but I usually add about two teaspoons. Toss the dressing ingredients together with the kani and veggies to distribute evenly. I like to serve my kani salad on a bed of lettuce leaves garnished with extra chopped scallions.

Variations on Kani Salad

There’s a lot of room to improvise in this recipe, and you can substitute other crunchy vegetables such as julienned daikon radish or corn kernels. I also like to make a Spicy Kani Salad by adding a hot sauce such as sriracha or sambal oelek to the dressing. Freshly cracked black pepper or chili pepper flakes are other ways to spice things up, and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil is an easy way to give this a nutty flavor. You can also add pineapple or mango for a little extra sweetness or some fish roe such as tobiko for a nice poppy texture.