"Crab" Salad

In case you were wondering, the quotation marks were intentional.

While this would in fact work with real crab meat, this was made with imitation crab sticks - the same stuff they use in Japanese Restaurants. In fact, this was something I had from our local Japanese take-out place, and I thought, "well I can do that!"

It a wonderful spring and summer side dish and extremely easy to make with the right tools. You need a very good mandolin for this, I suggest a Benriner. This thing is so sharp it's actually kind of scary to use. If you don't have a mandolin, you can use a food processor with the correct julienne attachment. Besides tasting lovely, it also happens to be pretty and colorful (as you can see below - looks like orange pasta huh?)

I've only ever had this made with mayo, but I'm actually not a mayo fan. So I substituted plain yogurt. Of course, if your not apposed to mayo, feel free to use it.

Kani Salad

2 cups finely julienned carrots
2 cups shredded crab sticks (you can get these frozen in almost any Asian market, I've even seen them in some of the  larger supermarkets now too. To "shred" them, make sure they are room temperature. Unwrap one and gently roll it between your hands to loosen it. It should be very easy now to just pull apart, they should be as thin or just slightly thicker than your carrots)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons Tobiko (flying fish roe, I found orange, but its also died yellow, red, or green - color doesn't matter. If you cant find it at all, add another tablespoon of sesame seeds)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon sesame oil
6 oz. fat free plain yogurt (do NOT get the thick Greek stuff, you want this thin, hence the addition of lemon juice)

-Combine carrots and crab in a non-metal bowl.
-Mix together the yogurt, oil and lemon juice.
-Add yogurt mixture to crab and carrots, mix well.
-Add sesame and Tobiko, mix gently. You shouldn't really need any salt for this because of the crab, but add it now if you feel you need to.
-Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for half hour to one hour before serving. Mix again and serve. You can sprinkle on some scallion or chopped parsley for some extra color.