Stir-fried mud crab with eggplant - khua ka pu sai mark keur
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
A delicious modern Australian fusion dish of mildly spicy stir-fried mud crab with long purple eggplant. Both the mud crab and eggplant are naturally sweet, and they're enhanced by the moreish flavour-rich sweet and savoury sauce.
Author:
Recipe type: Stir-fry
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 mud crab (1 kg)
  • 4 long purple eggplants
  • 3 bird's eye chilies
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 knob of ginger
  • 3 spring onions
  • 3 coriander
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 lemon/lime
  • ½ Tablespoon of fish sauce
  • ½ Tablespoon of light soy sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon of oyster sauce
  • ½ Tablespoon of sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • cracked black pepper
  • ½ cup of cornflour
  • 3 Tablespoons of cooking oil (for frying the eggplant)
  • 3 Tablespoons of cooking oil (for frying the mud crab)
  • 3 Tablespoons of cooking oil (for stir frying)
  • 1 cup of water
  • ½ cup of white wine
Instructions
  1. Place the crab in the freezer for about 1 hour to put it to sleep.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the other ingredients: wash and diagonally slice the eggplant into 5 cm pieces; wash and slice the chilies in half length-ways, peal, crush and slice the garlic cloves; wash, peal and slice the knob of ginger; wash, remove the roots and diagonally slice the spring onions into 5 cm pieces; wash and cut the coriander in half, separating the root/stems from the leaves - finely chop the root/stems and roughly chop the leaves (place the finely chopped roots/stems and the roughly chopped leaves in separate bowls); crack the eggs in a small bowl and whisk well; wash and quarter the lemon/lime. Put all these ingredients aside.
  3. After about 1 hour, remove the crab from the freezer. Remove the string (if any) from the crab and wash thoroughly under running water.
  4. Clean the crab: turn the crab upside down, lift its tail flap up and carefully dismantle/remove the shell from the crab's body (optional - wash and keep the shell for presentation); remove the gills (aka 'dead man's fingers') and dirty innards, if any (optional - retain the yellow 'crab mustard' (liver) for flavour).
  5. Gently wash the crab under running water again.
  6. Carefully break off the front claws/nippers from the body (optional - trim the body claw/leg tips). With a cleaver, cut the crab body into quarters. Crack open the front claws/legs with the back of a cleaver to allow the sauce to get in when cooking. Put the crab pieces aside.
  7. In a fry pan, heat 3 Tablespoons of cooking oil over medium heat and fry the sliced eggplant pieces on both sides until they turn golden brown. When they're done, remove them from the pan and put aside.
  8. On a plate/shallow bowl - place the corn flour and lightly coat the crab pieces with the corn flour.
  9. In a fry pan, heat 3 Tablespoons of cooking oil over medium heat and and fry the coated crab pieces until the shell turns orange. When they're done, remove them from the pan and put aside.
  10. In a fry pan or wok, heat 3 Tablespoons of cooking oil over medium heat. Add the chili, garlic, ginger and coriander root/stems, and saute for about 1 minute, until they turn light brown.
  11. Add the crab pieces and gently stir through for 1 minute.
  12. Pour the egg evenly over the crab pieces and quickly stir through, scrambling the egg.
  13. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, salt, and cracked black pepper, and stir through evenly.
  14. Add the fried eggplant pieces and gently stir through.
  15. Add the sliced spring onions and coriander leaves (optional - you can reserve half of the coriander leaves for garnish) and stir through.
  16. Add the water and wine, and gently stir through (optional - if you've decided to keep the shell for presentation, add it now and stir through to cook it also). Reduce the heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes, until the crab is cooked. The crab is cooked when the crab meat is white and firm, and the shell is vibrant orange.
  17. Stir through one more time and taste the sauce - adjust to suit your palate. What you're aiming for is a deliciously balanced savoury, sweet, herbal and mildly spicy sauce.
  18. Transfer to a large serving plate or bowl, ensuring that the crab is served with the eggplant pieces, and generously coated in the delicious sauce.
  19. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves or curled spring onions (instructions in the photos above).
  20. Serve with lemon/lime wedges, and carb of your choice - grilled bread, baguette, sourdough, steamed rice or sticky rice.
  21. This dish is messy to eat yet finger-licking delicious! Be sure to have finger bowls by your side. Enjoy your meal! :)
Recipe by Padaek at http://padaek.com/stir-fried-mud-crab-eggplant-khua-ka-pu-sai-mark-keur/