It has been a good season for crabs this year. They are big, good quality and cheaper. $25.99 a kilo for live mud crabs, from Darwin, my favourite type of crabs.
I like blue swimmers, but mud crabs from Darwin have so much more to offer. We had the crabs from restaurant, but children were not too keen so we decided that it's probably best to have them at home, we have more time to deal with the shells and all the work involved in eating...
We had the ginger and spring onion crab and the crab fried in egg yolks from the restaurant so this time, decided to do something slightly different.
We normally freeze the crab before taking them into parts, this time, no different. Less suffering for the crab, easier job for us.
First of all, prepare the tapioca, salt and white pepper mix, for the 1.26kg crab, which has been cleaned and cut into chunks - with legs and craws attached. Craws were cracked, easier to handle later on at the dinner table, and easier to get a bit of sauce in.
Dip the crab chunks into the dry mix, seal the exposed parts of the flesh. Prepare 2 dry chilli, cracked sichuan pepper corn, juvienned fresh ginger and crushed garlic, throw in the hot wok with heated oil, about 1/2 cup. Put in the crab pieces, turn and let oil seal all tapioca dipped area. Stir. Once the crab start to turn a bit red, add light soy, shaoxin wine, and a bit of raw sugar. Stir the crabs and let it coat with sauce. When almost ready, put in the spring onion battens.
A nice fresh Darwin mud crab, doesn't need a lot of cooking, the simpler the better. The meat is sweet, and the fresh seafood always speaks for itself.
Now I'm not sure where this recipe is really from, but I liked Luke Nguyen's mud crab in Sate Sauce and this is adapted from that...
1 Mud Crab
2 tbsp tapioca flour
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 knob of ginger
Karfir Lime Leaves
1 Lemon Grass
3 garlic cloves,
2 long red chillies,
2 shallots
1 big onion
1/3 cup dried anchovies & mussel, soaked in hot water
1 tbs raw sugar
2 tbs Shaoxing wine
2 tbs light soy sauce
Extra water*
Lemon juice and coriander leaves, to serve
Method:
1. Clean and cut mud crab in chunks – chill in freezer for half an hour.
2. toss in tapioca flour and fry in pan till half ready.
3. Blend onion, garlic, chillies, shallots, mussels and anchovies etc in blender to make paste.
4. Heat oil in wok, add paste.
5. add crab, wine and light soy. Extra water if needed. Add sugar.
6. add a bit of lemon juice, toss in coriander leaves and serve.
I love mud crab, especially the Darwin mud crabs.
They are in season now and very nice...
We always have it in the restaurant the very common ginger and spring onion version over noodles, so I made some today at home.
For noodles, just used the pasta method, 200g plain flour with 2 eggs, a pinch of salt and used my pasta maker....
For the Crab:
2 cloves of garlic
2 Knobs of ginger, juvienned.
1 small bunch of spring onions – cut in 1” length stripes.
1 whole mud crab
Salt
Pepper
¼ cup Light soy sauce
1 tbsp Rice wine – Cantonese style, bit like sake.
Sugar to taste
2 tbsp Tapioca
Oil
Home made noodles – boiled, to serve
Freeze mud crab for 30 minutes to num it, cut open and clean.
Chop mud crab in chunks, lightly coat with 2/3 of tapioca flour and pepper. Set up wok with plenty of oil, to deep fry.
Take crabs out as soon as the colour slightly turn. Reduce amount of oil in wok.
Put ginger and garlic in the wok in high heat to brown slightly.
Add crab back to wok, stir well, add soy, salt and rice wine, use rest of tapioca and a bit of water to make a very thin paste, add to wok.
Add sugar and spring onion, and stir, cook for 2 minutes or till crab is just cooked.
Prepare in clay pot boiled noodles that have been drained.
Add crab on top of the noodles in the clay pot.
