If you don’t already know, I love seafood. Shrimp, crawfish, crabs, scallops, mussels, clams etc. Lobster and I are working on our relationship, but I’m not quite there yet with it. I know it’s supposed to be so great. But the only time I enjoyed it was when it was grilled and I made an herb lemon butter sauce.

Anyway, to celebrate selling our condo, we went to indulge in some blue crabs, shrimp and crab legs at our local joint. The sad thing is, I could probably only eat 9 crabs in one sitting at the restaurant. But bring me a bushel and I will eat it all day at home.

Since we usually have leftovers, I don’t like to waste it, so I either make crab bisque or curry crabs with it. Since it’s been HOT AF in Virginia, the obvious choice is curry crab. This is one of the dishes Maman used to make. It evokes memories of being in our old apartment in Janna Lee, where would take a trip to DC Wharf to get a bushel of live blue crabs and then bring them back to do a big boil. Thinking back, I don’t know how we did this in an apartment, but we did. My maman would then set aside a few live ones and rip their shells off and chop them in half to make this dish from fresh crabs.

I, on the other hand, do not have the balls to wrestle a live blue crab with my bare hands, so leftover crabs it is!

 

Curry Crabs

Ingredients: 

1 can of coconut milk

2 tbsp yellow curry powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 egg

2 tbsp oil 

1 small sweet onion diced

1 in ginger, peeled and chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp fish sauce

12 cooked blue crabs, halved

1 cup water

4-5 stalks Chinese celery 

 

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan, heat coconut milk until oily, about 15-20 minutes on medium low heat. Whisk in curry powder and cayenne pepper. Whisk until well mixed. Add one egg and whisk until the egg cooks into a thick paste. Remove from heat.

Heat oil in a pot or wok, big enough to toss the crabs in. Sauté onions for a couple minutes until slightly translucent, then add ginger and garlic. Stir then add salt, sugar and fish sauce. Add crabs and toss in mixture until well coated and warm.

Add curry mixture to crabs. Toss until well mixed. Add water and stir frequently until water boils> Simmer for 5-10 minutes to let the flavors soak in. Add the Chinese celery. Stir and simmer until celery is wilted. When celery is done, remove from heat.

Allow to cool or eat hot!