A brave woman’s journey

This is the first time I am making crabs in my life. I was (still a little) dead scared of these creatures. First of all, they look so scary and second you need to buy them fresh, oh my god! But I have eaten them so many times, once I ate so much, chewing even on the shells, I got a stomach ache. I just love to eat them.

But then to prepare, eeeewwwww! I don’t like the feeling of being scared. So, I put on my Brave Woman cap and decided to go and buy them. First I thought, I would go alone, I could get someone at the store to help me in getting those live ones into a bag, but then the thought of driving back with the creatures still alive in my car didn’t seem a good idea.

So, I got the help of my dear husband, who was teasing me all the way and even after eating. Grrrrrr! Now that will go down as a story in our family get together. He hasn’t finished teasing me on how I run when I see live fishes on the hook when he goes fishing. Hmph!!!

So what?? Big deal!! At least I prepared it. *sticking out my tongue*

Crab season typically starts when the weather turns colder. I bought blue crabs. I have no idea how to select a good one, but I think the best way is to choose a one that has all the legs and is huge and is alive and kicking. The live ones crawl to the bottom, so it is good to place the bucket in a slanting position to get the ones at the bottom. (Psst, all these I was watching other smarties do at the store :P)

Now pick them up, inspect and drop into your bag. And if you are like me, occasionally scream and jump when someone is doing that for you and get the entire store laughing at you. Very Funny! It is said, the crabs like these voice massages!

Bring them home, get the largest pot that would fit them all and keep water for boiling and add ½ tsp of turmeric powder and one whole lime squeezed. When the water is boiling, drop them all one by one holding each with a lengthyyy tongs. The blue crabs will turn orange and immediately immerse them in cold water. This will make the crab meat firmer for our curry.

Now is the cleaning process, you would really need to watch this live. If I can, next time I will put up a video of someone else cleaning! hehehe.

First break off all the legs, discard the tiniest legs at the end that has no flesh. Then with a knife, take off the orange outer shell by just poking at the bottom and pulling it apart. Clean out everything that doesn’t look right. I think some of it is good, but if you are not sure, except for the large chunks of meat, clean it out thoroughly. Below is the picture of the cleaned crab. If you want, you can cut through the middle and make these into two.

Below is a wonderful recipe for Crab in spiced and fried coconut paste.

This is for 8 blue crabs.
Grated Coconut – 2 cups.
Shallots – ½ cup

Heat 2 tsp of oil, Saute grated coconut until it turns brown in very low heat. Add shallots, 2 sprigs of curry leaves, 7 crushed garlic pods with the skin, 4 tsp of freshly grounded meat masala powder, 1 tsp of chili powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder.

Grind to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a flat open pan, splutter mustard seeds, and add 2 fresh sprigs of curry leaves. Sauté 1 diced onion until brown, add 1 tablespoon diced ginger, 2 tomatoes chopped and add enough salt. Add some hot water to this paste and cook for 5 minutes until it comes to a boil. Add the crabs and the legs. Mix them thoroughly so that the paste covers the crabs, close and cook for some 10 minutes in medium heat.

Serve with rice or bread. You would really need to know the art of eating to eat a crab.