crab recipe

Pepper EVERYTHING! While it may seem that Caribbean foods are spicy, that’s not the case. However, there are times we do enjoy firey treats. like this Pepper Crab, I did a few days back. Like the Pepper Calamari, various Pepper Shrimp, as well as the Pepper Lobster, this one ranks high for the heat level.

You’ll Need..

2 lbs Crabs (cleaned, cut 1/2)
1 lemon (juice)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 cups veg oil
1 1/2 tablespoons spicy stir-fry oil (chili oil)
1 medium onion (sliced)
1 inch ginger (julienne)
1/2 med red bell pepper (roughly chopped)
1/2 med green bell pepper (roughly chopped)
5 cloves garlic (smashed)
5 bird’s eye peppers (chopped)
1 tablespoon light Soy sauce
1 tablespoon Gochujang (Korean pepper paste)
1 1/2 tablespoon Oyster sauce
1/4 cup water
1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper (cut in 1/2)
3 scallions (chopped)
6-8 Wiri Wiri Peppers

Notes! May I recommend that you follow along with the video below as much more about the recipe is discussed there. Be mindful that this PEPPER CRAB, therefore it’s supposed to be SPICY. You may tone down the heat by using less hot peppers.

Clean, cut, and wash the crabs with cool water and the lemon juice (drain). Then mix in the salt, black pepper, and cornstarch.

Heat the veg oil on med/high and fry the crabs for 3 minutes.

Remove the crab pieces and set aside.

Heat the chili oil in a wok or wide pan (I used the same wok) on a medium flame and add the onion, ginger, bell peppers, and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the chopped Bird’s Eye peppers, Soy Sauce, Gochujang, Oyster Sauce, and water, and cook for another 2 minutes on low heat. * Add 1/2 teaspoon of Sesame Oil if you enjoy the flavor.

Tuck in the Scotch Bonnet pepper to further flavor the dish with heat.

Add more water if you want a more saucy dish.

Add the crab pieces to the wok and stir well to coat with everything.

Give it about 3 minutes then top with the chopped scallions and whole Wiri Wiri peppers.

Turn off the stove, mix well, and allow the residual heat to soften the scallions and peppers we added.

In the video, I explained why I used the cornstarch, the different additions of heat in the dish, and why I added the Wiri Wiri peppers after turning off the stove.

Seafood

Simply Amazing Jerk Crab.

January 16, 2020August 19, 20191 Comment

Puritans will tell you that you need smoke and fire from pimento wood to get that real authentic Jamaican flavor when doing “jerk” and I’d be crazy to disagree. However, with this recipe in particular… I humbly think you achieve “jerk” greatness on the stove-top. Plus I live in Canada where there’s no pimento wood and our winters are very HARSH to be grilling outside all year!

You’ll Need…

3 lbs Crab (cleaned)
4 cloves garlic (smashed or grated)
1 tablespoon ginger (diced fine or grated)
5 birds eye pepper
1 medium onion (diced)
3-4 scallions (chopped – divided)
2 sticks cinnamon
3/4 tablespoon ground allspice
2 scotch bonnet peppers (chopped)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/4 tablespoon brown sugar
10 sprigs thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 lemon (juice)

Get your fish monger to clean the crab for you or clean then by removing the backs off the crab (discard) and clean the sort of gills.. then rinse with the juice or a lime or lemon (not mentioned in the ingredient list) and water. I’d also recommend cracking the bigger claws, to get extra flavor when cooked.

I’d recommend prepping the other ingredients at this time so when you get started, it would make for easy work. The goal is to keep is simple and tasty.

*Prepped ingredients for the jerk crab.*

Heat the oil in a wide pan on medium heat, then add the onion, garlic and Bird’s Eye peppers (called bird pepper in the Southern Caribbean). Turn the heat down to as low as it will go as we don’t want to burn the garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Now add the black pepper, diced ginger, scallions (1/2) and thyme and cook on low for a further 2-3 minutes. After which you’ll add the scotch Bonnet peppers. Remove the seeds if you’d like to tame down the heat level a bit. It’s also important that you wear gloves and wash your hands with soap and water immediately after handling such hot peppers. May I also recommend turning the fan on over your stove or open your kitchen window to vent your kitchen.

Give it all a good stir, then add the allspice, brown sugar, cinnamon, soy sauce and salt. Stir well, then add the orange juice and water .. heat still on low.

*The brown sugar will give the jerk sauce a lovely rounded flavor and balance off some of the heat from the spicy peppers we used. BTW jerk is supposed to be spicy!*

It’s now time to add the cleaned crabs to the pot and give it a really good stir. Turn the heat up to medium to bring it to a sort of boil/simmer. To assist, place a lip on the pot you’re using. As you see a simmer, turn the heat down to maintain that simmer and keep the lid on. We’ll try to steam-cook the crabs with all this lovely flavors.

Cook on that simmer for about 8 minutes (with the lid on) and be sure to stir it about 3-4 times during the cooking. Top with the other 1/2 of the scallions, cook for 2 more minutes.. then it’s time to ENJOY!

Probably not your typical way of making/enjoying crab, but I assure you, you’ll be blown away by the flavors of this classic pescatarian dish. Be warned that it may be a bit spicy, but you can definitely tailor the heat level to your liking.

Do you own a copy of my cookbook ?- The Vibrant Caribbean Pot 100 Traditional And Fusion recipes Vol 2

Tasty Curry Crab Simplified.

November 28, 2016November 26, 2016Leave a Comment

Curry Crab and Dumplings is one of the most iconic dishes on our sister island of Tobago. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of hitting the beach at Store Bay (where you also catch the glass bottom boats to Buccoo Reef and Nylon Pool), you’ve surely walked pass many of the food vendors selling this classic curry dish. While I’ve shared this recipe before, I was asked via Instagram to share a simplified version that’s easy to prepare and just as tasty as the classic I shared about 4 years ago.

You’ll Need…

3 lbs crab
3 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (geera)
2-3 tablespoon veg oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
5 cloves garlic
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 heaping table spoon Caribbean Green Seasoning
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 small onion
2 pimento peppers (called seasoning peppers)
5 Bird Pepper (bird’s eye – or any pepper you have/like)

Important: If doing this recipe gluten free, please go through the entire list of ingredients to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs. Especially the curry powder, as it may contain flour as a filler.

Place you washed/cleaned crab (cut in 1/4’s) into a large bowl and season with the salt, black pepper and Caribbean Green Seasoning. Stir well and get ready to cook, as we don’t really need this to marinate. If the crab you’re using has big claws, I’d recommend giving them a crack to help the seasoning and curry get in to add extra flavor.

Dice the seasoning pepper, garlic and onion. Now add the vegetable oil to a wide heavy pan on medium heat. Go in with the onion and garlic and turn the heat down to low. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the ‘seasoning’ peppers (don’t worry if you can’t source them) and continue cooking on low heat for another minute or two.

With the heat still on low go in with the cumin seeds (toss around), then the curry powder (your fav.. I used a Madras blend out of the Caribbean). This step will toast the curry powder and bring out that curry goodness we’re looking for. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, then add the bird peppers WHOLE (don’t break) and allow them to warm though for a minute.

Now it’s time to turn the heat to med/high and start adding the seasoned crab pieces. Stir well to de-glaze the pan and to coat the crab pieces with the curry base we created.

It’s now time to add the coconut milk and bring it up to a boil (lid on). Then reduce the heat to a simmer and allow it to cook for about 8-10 minutes. If you notice that the gravy is too thick or burning away too fast, add 1/2 – 3/4 cup water (not mentioned in the list of ingredients).

Taste for salt and adjust accordingly and please try your best to not break the peppers, unless you want it as spicy as it’s usually served in Tobago. As you turn off the stove, top with the chopped cilantro (Shado Beni would be normally used).

The classic curry crab is usually served with flour or cassava dumplings, but you can enjoy this with ground provisions (yams, dasheen, eddoes, cassava.. even boiled green bananas), roti, rice or as a side to any starch you like.

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Seafood

Sweet Potato Crab Cakes Recipe.

November 18, 2014May 15, 20146 Comments

If you’ve priced or purchased crab meat from the fish market or grocers you’d know how expensive the stuff can be, so making crab cakes can be a bit hard on your pocket. My love for crab cakes is deep, so I came up with this recipe for using canned crab meat which is very inexpensive. With the fresh herbs, the slight kick from the finely diced scotch bonnet pepper and sweet (and creamy) undertones of the sweet potato, you’ll be quite pleased by these budget friendly crab cakes.

You’ll Need…

1 can crab meat (120g)
pinch black pepper
1 tablespoon mayonaise
1 cup bread crumbs
1 lb sweet potato
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon chopped parsely
1 tablespoon chopped red onion
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper (diced finely) – no seeds
1 scallion diced
1 cup veg oil for frying

Notes: You can use 1 egg to bind everything if you find the batter is overly wet or soggy. Remember to drain and squeeze the crab to get rid of water and please don’t don’t use immitation crab nor expensive lump crab.

Peel and cut the sweet potatoes in half, then boil in salted water until tender. To know if they are fully cooked, pierce with a pairing knife and if there’s no resistance it means they’re cooked. Drain and mash in a deep bowl. As the mashed sweet potato cools, you can finely dice/chop the other ingredients.

It should be cool now, so go in with all the ingredients, except the crab meat and bread crumbs… mix well.

Fold in the crab meat, then chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes so everything firms up a bit. Now roll into balls (golf ball size), after-which you’ll need to roll the balls in the bread crumbs, pressing down gently so the crumbs hold on.

Heat the vegetable oil on medium (olive oil will give it a good flavor as well) in a wide pan, then press down on each crab cake ball to form a sort of patty.

All you have to do now is fry them on each side until golden brown, drain on paper towels and enjoy!

I would suggest that after forming the patties that you place them in the fridge to chill and firm up a bit so they hold their shape while frying. These sweet potato crab cakes goes well with the garlic sauce I shared a while back or you can opt for a ranch dressing you’d normally get at the supermarket.

Pepper Crab Recipe.

Simply Amazing Jerk Crab.

Tasty Curry Crab Simplified.

Sweet Potato Crab Cakes Recipe.

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