Crabilicious!!!!

 A trip to the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur was a real experience. You had walk up so many steep stairs to reach the limestone entrance. There was amazing statues and shrines at the temple.

If I remember, I think the people who prayed there were Hindu.

There was a festival on at that time and the smell of incense was in the air. People paraded along the streets dancing, their bodies painted and long thin sticks pierced their skin. They said the people never felt pain as they put themselves into some sort of trance. It sure looked like it would hurt to me!!

Another place was the markets, where you could buy many different things.

They had food stalls that were close together with very little working space. You told the person what you wanted and they made it for you straight away. I ordered seafood,vegetables and noodles flavoured with many spices and herbs.

I love seafood very much and would like to share with you one of my favourite recipes, Chilli Crab.

Bernadette's Chilli Crab

Ingredients

Serves 4 People (2 crabs per person)

8 raw Blue Manner crabs

2 red chillies chopped

1 large onion diced

2 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon  chopped ginger

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce

Half a cup of white wine

1 small can of coconut milk (approx 1 cup)
a couple of chopped green shallots or spring onions for decoration
1 green chilli chopped for decoration


Method 

Clean the crabs by lifting the flap under the body and pulling it back and take the shell off in one movement. Under a tap  with running water or in a bowl of cold water, wash the crab and remove the soft feather like gills and any mustard. Now the crab should be clean. Place on a board and cut down the centre of the crab into two halves.  Take a nut cracker or a rolling pin and crack the legs of the crab a little (Don't remove the shell yet) This will allow the flavours of the sauce to coat the crab meat.

Place crab in fridge while preparing the sauce mixture.

On medium heat, place your wok or large deep fry pan.  Put in the oil, chilli, garlic, ginger and onion, cook until slightly tender. Place the crabs in the wok with the onion mix and turn the heat to high and keep stirring the crabs. Take off heat after about 5 minutes and then add the wine and coconut milk, return to heat which now should be back on medium. After a couple of minutes, add sweet chilli sauce and brown sugar. The sauce mixture should now coat the crabs and have reduced a little.

Serve in a large bowl and decorate with spring onions and green chilli. Steamed rice is ideal on the side.