Thai mud crab

Never had mud crab before this. Had blue swimmer, had spanner. Didn't mind the former but wouldn't bother with the latter again. I was convinced that crab was inferior to bugs, yabbies, prawns and lobster, but still, I'd heard good things about mud crab and felt that I had to give it a go.

You might have to extend the cooking times. The crab I bought was about 600 g. A bigger crab would require a few more minutes, probably. You could use this recipe with other crabs. With blue swimmers, even. Just adjust the cooking time.



Ingredients:
1 live mud crab, about 600 g
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 stalks lemongrass, torn up and bruised
2 small chillies, sliced
1 big lump of ginger, sliced
1 bunch spring onions, sliced
1/2 bunch fresh coriander, leaves picked
a splash of soy sauce
a pinch of brown sugar
steamed rice, to serve

The best way of dealing with the crab is to sit it in the freezer for a hour. If he's not dead by that point, he'll be pretty groggy.

Heat a large saucepan of water on the stove. Sit an appropriately sized bamboo steamer over said saucepan. Meanwhile, take the crab from the freezer. Flip him onto his back and pull at the flap on the belly, ideally working off the shell in the process (if you balls it up, you can just bust the shell open with a sharp knife). Pick out the lungs--those grey, furry things--and get rid of the mustard-looking stuff. Pretty much, with a crab, the inedible stuff looks inedible. Twist the legs and claws off. Give the claws a good whack with the back of your knife, a meat tenderiser, a sharpening steel or pretty much anything to crack them open.



On a small metal plate (I actually used a small pie tin), make a bed for the crab pieces with the lemon grass. Scatter the garlic, ginger and chilli over the crab pieces. Sprinkle over the sugar and add the soy. Don't go nuts with that stuff, as it's pretty potent. Steam for 15 minutes or until the crab is cooked through--the shell will be bright red. Lift the lid of the steamer and scatter the coriander leaves and spring onion slices over the crab. Steam for a further minute. Serve with rice.