Ginger Mud Crabs

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 3
• 1 kg crab (mud crab raw or live)
• 80 ml peanut oil (4 tablespoons)
• 1 inch piece ginger (peeled and julienned)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 red onion (roughly chopped)
• 6 spring onions (scallions cut into 1 inch pieces separate and green)
• 1 red capsicum (bell pepper cut into strips)
• 60 ml rice wine (shoaxing specified)
• 10 g sugar
• 40 ml oyster sauce
• 20 ml sesame oil
• 60 ml chicken stock
• 10 ml black vinegar
• 1/2 cup coriander leaves
• 2 chilies (birds eye deseeded and sliced for garnish to taste optional)

Recipe

• 1 freeze mud crab for 30 minutes and then blanch in boiling hot water and then submerge into ice water to refresh.
• 2 clean and chop the crab in quarters, remove lungs and crack the claws by hitting them across the middle with a knife.
• 3 add some off cuts of ginger and spring onion to the water in a pot on which you can sit a bamboo steamer, add the crabs to the steamer and steam for about 6 to 8 minutes or alternatively i would use my electric steamer or if you have a pot with holes in the base site that on a another pot with water.
• 4 heat the peanut oil in the wok until smoking.
• 5 add onion and cook till almost transluscent and then add garlic and cook for a few minutes.
• 6 add the julienned ginger and chillies if using, 1 inch lengths of spring onion part and the capsicum and sugar and fry a few minutes until fragrant.
• 7 add crabs and toss, then add shoaxing wine, oyster sauce, sesame oil and stock and vinegar and cook for a few minutes (i just had this all mixed in a jug to pour in).
• 8 sprinkle with sliced spring onion greens and coriander leaves on serving (as we don't care for coriander i omitted).
• 9 serve with steamed rice.