Cleaning mud crabs

Wash the crabs well in cold salty water, you may need to give them a good scrub with a brush if they’re pretty dirty, crabs are bottom foragers and often come from estuaries where the silt may not be the best quality, so don’t skimp on getting them clean.

Remove the top shell (carapace), this is easily done by gripping the flap beneath the crab and pulling it backwards then up toward the top of the crab, a good firm grasp should see the shell come away without too much trouble.

Rinse the inner of the crab under running water, whilst removing the gills and the mustard (some people actually enjoy this part). Break or cut away the sticky out bits (mandibles and eyes) around the head, not necessary, but I remove these.

Method

Chop the crabs into good size pieces, I’m using 4 smallish crabs so I’ve cut mine into two. Often 1 single crab can weigh well over 1.5 kg’s, so you would want to cut a rather large crab into many more pieces.

Tip: When buying crabs, see if you can get some extra nippers for the pot. These are my favourite, and I’m sure every else loves a good nipper too.

Prepare the other ingredients

Finely chop the garlic, ginger and chilli, or give them a minute or two together in a blender.

Wash the spring onion and cut diagonally into 4cm pieces.

In a wok, heat the peanut oil until very hot. Add the crabs and fry on a high flame for about 7 minutes, turning frequently. Cover and let steam for another 3 or 4 minutes.

Remove the crabs from the oil and set aside.

Turn the heat to low and sauté the garlic, ginger and chilli until soft, then add the spring onions, sauté for another minute.

Add the sauces, sugar, soy, and salt and pepper, lime juice, and water and bring to boil, then add the coriander.

After one minute add the crabs and simmer for a couple of minutes in the sauce.

This recipe has lots of flavour. Serve with rice. Enjoy!

Tip: Fresh mud crabs are a favourite of east Asian cultures, especially here in Australia. As with other crab recipes, I still prefer the taste and texture of blue swimmers, you can easily substitute blue swimmers in this recipe.