Chinese Spicy River Snail - 香辣螺狮

I know that River Snails doesn't necessarily sound like the most appetizing meal; but since studying in the US, I have not had the chance to eat this dish in quite some time. This dish is particularly popular in the southern coastal areas of China. I fell in love with it during my family trips to Hainan.

This is the perfect night time dish to have outdoors with friends. Many people enjoy having this with some beer. Part of the experience is digging out the meat with a toothpick. While this sounds like work, it is enjoyable to dig out these delicious morsels of meat.

Anyway, I've really been craving this dish lately. The other day, while at a larger Asian market, I saw there were some relatively fresh snails for sale. I decided to build up my courage and try to recreate this dish. I had help from various Baidu recipes. Following is my version of how to prepare this dish. I was pretty darned impressed with myself :)

This is one of those recipes where I kind of "eye ball" approximate what I should put in. It turned out pretty well.

What you need:

• Approximately 2 lbs of fresh River Snails (can be found at an Asian Grocery Store)
• 1 Tablespoon minced ginger (I used canned from Lee Kum Kee)
• 1 Tablespoon chopped garlic (again, I used canned)
• 1/2 cup of cooking alcohol (I used rice wine)
• 2 Tablespoons of (Chinese/Asian) Black Vinegar
• 5 - 10 dried chilies (only break 1-2 if you don't like much spice)
• 3 Tablespoons of Chili Garlic Sauce (ex: Lee Kum Kee brand. Can also use Chili Bean Sauce - la douban jiang)
• 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 Teaspoon of salt (I used sea salt)
• 5-6 Tablespoons of vegetable oil (could also use olive oil)
• Water
• Toothpicks
• Green onions or cilantro (optional garnish)

Preparation: 

1) Wash snails in cold water. Rinse thoroughly. Then place snails into a bowl of cold water. Add a tablespoon of oil into the bowl. This will encourage snails to "spit up" bubbles and sand. Let the snails set for 24 hours. My snails did not try to escape. Put a lid over the bowl if you are unsure.

2) Rinse the snails again in cold water. Set them aside in a bowl (without water and oil).

3) Boil water with the 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 cup of alcohol. Bring to a boil (cover with a lid to keep in the alcohol).

4) After the water solution comes to a boil, add all of the snails into the boiling water for 30 seconds - 1 minute. This will clean the snails and draw out the snail meat. Then dump the snails and set aside to dry for a moment.

5) In a medium to large frying pan, put the remaining 4-5 Tablespoons of oil, ginger, garlic, and dried chilies. Warm the oil mixture up until you have a fragrant smell. Be careful. The oil may start popping. As soon as the oil is boiling and you can smell the fragrance, dump the snails into the frying pan. Add the chili sauce, soy sauce and 1/4 cup alcohol. Cover the snails with water. Have the stove at high temperature. Boil until the water evaporates (leave a little sauce to serve your snails in).

6) Put in a serving bowl and dump vinegar over shells. Serve. You will want some toothpicks to help dig out snail meat.

7) Could use green onions or cilantro as edible garnishes. I did not.

Below I have a picture of my creation. While this looks like a lot, this is really a serving for one (hungry) person. 

Enjoy! Let me know how it goes for you!