Jenji Gaasi

Sweet crab and a spicy coconut gravy; it shouldn't work, the spices should overpower the delicate flavour of the crab...bah that rubbish, this is wonderful and easy way of cooking crab, with the coconut base balancing out the sweetness and the spice to create this wonderful chemistry of flavour. This is a Manglorean dish and is best had with plain streamed rice. I love crab, especially cutting into it and extricating that wonderful meat. I also prefer to cook it with the shell, as it protects the meat from the heat through the slow cooking process. The dish takes around 40 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking.

Ingredients

• 250 g blue crab, cleaned and cut into large chunks
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 inch ginger, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped into large chunks
• 2 red chilies, reconstituted in hot water
• 1 thumb sized piece of tamarind
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 6 peppercorns
• 1 star anise
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water

Method

1. Wash the crab, and sprinkle with salt and turmeric. Be restrained with the salt, as the crab will naturally be a little salty. Rub the turmeric and salt into the crab chunks.
2. Dry roast the peppercorns, coriander sees, star anise and cumin together, until they release their aroma. Keep stirring it around to prevent the cumin from burning.
3. Add the roasted spices to the ginger, garlic, fenugreek seeds, red chilies, coconut and tamarind, add a little water and grind into a thick and smooth paste.
4. Heat the oil in a pan, and add the onions. Fry until translucent.
5. Add the tomatoes and fry till it softens.
6. Add the ground paste and stir around. Cook the paste until the oil starts to separate.
7. Add the crab pieces and toss around so that the paste covers the crab. Add the water and salt to taste and cook covered for 8-10 minutes, till the crab cooks through.
8. Once done, take off the heat and let it rest for a few minutes.
9. Serve up over a base of plain rice.

Oven-roasted Crab with Herb Butter

I love the salty and sweet flesh of fresh blue crabs, especially when served with a herb butter sauce as it accentuates the sweetness of the flesh. Its a little work to get through to the flesh, as blue crabs are typically much smaller than Dungeness or mud crabs, but its well worth it. Ive served this up with some herb fougasse, to soak up the butter sauce, but any sourdough or a dense bread will do. I've also used cleaned and cut crabs, as I prefer to let my fishmonger handle the nasty business of cutting through the top shell and removing the gills and tomalley. The herb fougasse recipe can be found at: Herb Fougasse.

Ingredients

• 2 blue crabs, cleaned and split down the middle
• 3 tbsp herb butter (with garlic, coriander, basil and pepper)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Add the paprika and a little salt to the crab pieces. Crack the claws and toss it around to have the rub coat the crab evenly. Set aside for an hour.
2. Melt the herb butter in a pan on low-medium heat, and add the garlic. Fry lightly to release its aroma, but be careful as to not brown the butter.
3. Add the crab pieces, lower the heat and toss it around so that the butter evenly coats the crab pieces. Add a little salt and pepper to taste; watch the salt though as the crab and butter have a little salt in them.
4. Place in an oven-proof dish, and place in a preheated oven at 240 degrees C/gas mark 8 for 15 minutes.
5. Add a dash of lime and serve the crab with the butter sauce dribbled over.