Start by making ½ batch of the crabless patty recipe on this website. For best results, make it a little dry. Squeeze out as much of the water out of the tofu in the colander as possible before mixing with the rest of the ingredients. Shape into small cakes and line up on a sheet tray. Set up a quart sized container with cold water about two inches deep and one with about a cup of vital wheat gluten about ½ inches deep. Drop the one of the crabless cakes into the wheat gluten and cover it with the gluten then shake the container back and forth to be sure it is completely covered.

Now for the tricky part. You need to pat your head and rub your belly, no, that’s my jellybean recipe. Keep one hand for dry and one for wet. Gently pick up the cake with your DRY hand, shake off any loose gluten and drop it into the cold water. Now with your WET hand pick it up and let any excess water drip off and set it back into the wheat gluten. Repeat the process two more times. If you accidentally get the wet/dry hand thing wrong, you’ll understand why it’s so important. Your hands will probably look like the thing from the swamp, or attack of the mummy. Stop and wash your hands with warm water, dry them well, and continue the process.

Carefully deep fry the cakes in vegetable or peanut oil one or two at a time and place them on a sheet tray. You want them to be very light brown. They will be done very fast, probably less than a minute. Bake the cakes at 400’ for 10 minutes on each side. Let them cool several minutes before serving. They stay hot inside a long time because the chewy crust holds in all of the heat and steam.

If you like you can stuff them with a piece of vegan cheese when shaping (before the wet/dry gluten thing).