Steamed crab with lemongrass dreassing
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It is extremely important to cook only living (live) crabs. Like all fresh seafood, crabs are extremely perishable and spoil rapidly. Since it is impossible to know how long a dead crab has been dead (or if it has spoiled), you should never attempt to cook a dead crab.
ingredients
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serves: 4
8-12 Asian swimming crabs (or 2 (2-lb/900-g) blue crabs, Iive or cooked)
LEMONGRASS DRESSING:
1 stalk lemongrass (outer leaves removed and the core minced)
1 Finely grated zest and juice of lime
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
2/3 cup (150 ml) water
1 medium-hot green chile pepper (seeded and minced)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon roughly chopped cilantro
Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount per Serving
Calories: 211
- Total Fat: 2.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 177.1 mg
- Sodium: 1407.2 mg
- Total Carbs: 3.4 g
- Dietary Fiber: 0.5 g
- Sugars: 1.4 g
- Protein: 41.6 g
preparation
1. Kill the crabs. Then put each crab back-shell down on a board and break off the tail flap. Break off the claws close to the body.
2. Chop the body section of the crab in half (but not all the way through the back shell) using a large knife.
3. Grab hold of the legs and gently tug on them to pull the body sections away from the back shell. Use a knife as an added lever if necessary, but they should come away quite easily, with the legs still attached.
4. Turn each piece over and pick off the feather-like gills ("dead man's fingers"). Discard the back shells or save them for making stock.
5. Cut the claws in half at the joint. Crack the shells of each piece with a hammer or the back of a large knife.
6. Mix all the ingredients for the lemongrass dressing together and set aside.
7. Bring about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water to a boil in a wide, shallow pan. Either put some sort of rack in the bottom on which you can rest a plate-a couple of pastry cutters or another upturned plate will do-or use a petal steamer. Pour in some water so that it doesn't quite cover the rack and bring to a boil.
8. Pile the pieces of crab on the petal steamer or a heatproof plate and lower it into the pan. Cover and steam for 8 minutes, by which time the crab should be cooked. lf you are using cooked crabs, just give them 3 to 4 minutes to heat through.
9. Arrange the pieces of crab on a large, warmed serving plate. Spoon on the lemongrass dressing and serve straight away.
Cooks' note:
ALTERNATIVE FISH:Lobster, steamed and served with this dressing, is a bit of a work of art. lf you throw all the dressing ingredients in a large pot of mussels and steam them open, you'll be amazed too.
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