Recipe - Steamed Crab With Lemongrass Dressing

8 Asian Swimming crabs or 2 x
900g; alive or cooked (8
To 12)
; brown crabs

FOR THE LEMONGRASS DRESSING
1 Lemongrass stalk; outer
leaves
; removed and the
; core finely chopped
Finely grated zest and juice
of 1 lime
2 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
150 ml Water
1 Green chilli; seeded, finely
; chopped
One half teaspoon Caster sugar

1 Mix all the lemongrass dressing ingredients together. To kill the live
crab if using, turn each one in turn on its back with its eyes facing you.

2 Drive a thick skewer or a long, thin bladed knife between the eyes into
the centre of the crab. Lift up the tail flap and drive the skewer through
the underside of the crab when the crab is dead, it will go limp.

3 For both the uncooked and cooked crabs, break off the tail flap and
discard. Break off the claws, cut them in half at the joint and crack the
shells off each piece with a hammer.

4 With a largebladed knife, halve the body section of the crab and gently
tug on the legs to pull the body away from the back shell. Use a knife as a
lever if you need to, but it should come out quite easily with the legs
attached.

5 Turn each piece over and pick off the dead man's fingers. Discard the
back shells or save for making stock. Take a large pan and rest some sort
of trivet in the bottom on which to rest a plate a couple of pastry
cutters or an upturned plate will do. Pour in water to not quite cover the
trivet and boil.

6 Pile the pieces of crab onto a heatproof plate and lower it into the pan.

7 Cover and steam for eight minutes by which time the crab should be
cooked. If you are using cooked crabs, give it just 34 minutes to heat it
through.

8 To serve, arrange the pieces of crab attractive on a large warmed serving
plate. Spoon over the lemongrass dressing and serve straight away.

Converted by MC_Buster.

Recipe by: Rick Stein

Converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.