crab @ home

uncle D bought a live 1.3kg mud crab today at Richmond today after we had our Vietnamese lunch.

when I asked him how is he going to kill it, he said, "don't worry." wahh! he definitely sounds like he knows what he's doing.

I feel so sorry for the wrapped up moving creature in the plastic bag. when I brought it home and left it on the basin, I had the bag opened up to make sure it had air to breathe. aunty M asked why do I want to prolong his sufferings.

and when I asked uncle D how is he going to cook the crab, he said "restaurant style." Wahhh! and restaurant style indeed the end result was.

ginger and spring onion crab on fresh noodles, home-cooked restaurant style ;)

I know I'm horrible, one moment I'm feeling sorry for my pet crab, next moment I'm having it for dinner. It was interesting as it was my first-hand experience watching how people chop up crabs. there are certain parts like the gills and internal organs that you have to remove before cooking.

wrestling the crab down

It took quite awhile for uncle D to chop the crab's claw off. For visualization sake, the crab is bigger than my face, which means it was a pretty strong crab. the trick is to chop both of it's claws off first so you won't risk having your fingers crushed. the crab broke a chopstick. imagine what it can do to you.

After the crab was being chopped up, and whacked a couple of times to crack the shells, it went into the pan with the other main ingredients - ginger and spring onion. for the sauce, it was white wine, cornflour, sugar, chicken stock, salt and some water. uncle D did a good job with the shell-cracking as we did not require any prying tools.

simmer it for a moment and the crab's shell transforms from a muddy green to an appetizing bright orange colour! the smell is terrific too.

empty the pan and pour everything on a bed of freshly boiled noodles, and expect everyone running to the table, or in my case, already seated at the table ;)

the flesh of the crab was very sweet and springy, you know, that fresh texture.

I thought uncle D did a really a good job on the crab except the fact that I felt something lacking in the sauce. something salty, but haven't figured out what.