These Southeast Asian–inspired crab cakes make such a great impression and I love that I can make them ahead with just a little last-minute cooking. I like to serve them with a simple salad of avocado, red onion, and butter lettuce, tossed with lime juice and olive oil.
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
Heat a medium heavy saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and cook without stirring, tilting the pan as needed so that the sugar cooks evenly, for about 5 minutes, or until it melts into an amber caramel. Do not stir or the caramel will crystallize. Remove from the heat and stir in the mango (the caramel will seize), then the rice vinegar and lime juice. Return to medium heat and stir constantly for about 5 minutes, or until the mango is translucent and the caramel is dissolved and syrupy. Transfer to a bowl and let cool. Season with salt.
In a large bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, egg, fish sauce, ginger, cilantro, sesame oil, jalapeños, salt, and lime zest together, then whisk in the green onions. Add the crabmeat and stir to coat, coarsely breaking apart the crabmeat, leaving small whole chunks in the mixture. Fold in the panko. Cover and refrigerate the crab mixture for 30 minutes so that the mixture is easier to form.
Using about 1/3 cup of the crab mixture for each cake, shape into twelve 3/4-inch thick crab cakes and place on a baking sheet.
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Heat a large nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add 3 tablespoons of the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter and heat until hot but not smoking. Working in two batches, fry 6 crab cakes for about 2 minutes on each side, or until crisp and golden, adjusting the heat as needed to brown evenly without scorching. Transfer to the baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Wipe out the skillet with paper towels and repeat with the remaining 3 tablespoonscanola oil, 2 tablespoons butter, and 6 crab cakes.
To serve, place 2 crab cakes on each of six plates. Spoon some of the mango chutney over and alongside the crab cakes. Top each with the cucumber and garnish with the cilantro sprigs and sea salt.