Lemongrass Crabs

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In Thai cuisine lemongrass is commonly used. Lemongrass has its aromatic citrus flavour with a trace of ginger. It has numerous health benefits especially used in combination with other spices such as garlic, fresh chilies and coriander. Lemongrass has its ability to aid in digestion, pain relief as well as antibacterial and antifungal properties.  

This recipe is shared by my neighbour. Cooking lemongrass with crabs is new to me. My normal way of having crabs is in spicy sauce as posted early, Spicy Crabs Songkhla Style. After tasted this non spicy crabs my family and I love it! One thing to remember, be generous with your lemongrass! Cut the stalk into 2-3 cm lengths, “bruise” with kitchen knife then slice the bruised stalks to release lemon flavour. Hope you may like this simple stir fried crabs.

Recipe from Vivian Pang’s Kitchen

Lemongrass Crabs

Ingredients:

(A)

3 flower crabs (about 1 kg), cleaned and cut into pieces

Some corn flour for coating

(B)

1 head of garlics, roughly diced

4 stalks big lemongrass

2-3 tablespoons light soya sauce

2 tablespoons cooking wine

100ml water or more if prefer sauce

1-2 teaspoon ground pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

2-3 tablespoons cooking oil

Methods:

~Preparation

1. Clean and wash the crabs. Cut each crab into 4-6 pieces. Coat the cut surface with some cornflour (only coat when about to fry).

2. Crush the bottom of lemongrass with kitchen knife then roughly slice.

~Cooking

1. Heat wok adding in 2 tablespoons cooking oil. Arrange crab pieces in wok (facing the coated surface directly in hot oil). Fry till turn golden brown. Dish up and set aside.

*Instead of deep fry in hot oil (which used a lot of oil!), we can choose pan fry to seal the meat.

2. Add 1 tablespoon oil in wok. Together with the remaining oil in wok sauté the garlic and lemongrass on medium heat till fragrant.

3. Add in crab pieces into wok along with light soya sauce and cooking wine. Toss well, follow by water, pepper and sugar. Cover with lid and cook for about 3 minutes. Remove the lid and toss again. This helps crabs coat well with the sauce. Cover the lid and cook for another 3-5 minutes till cooked (the shell will change orangey). Dish up and serve while hot. Enjoy!