A Menu Change

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Last night my Family were coming over for our fellow Mamabaker ( and my little Sister) Miss Ashlea's Birthday.

The Original Menu was just a BBQ and a Vegetable Bake (her fav) and some corn. Well as per normal in this house, Shane can always seem to find a way to throw the spanner in the works....

Shane was working down in Shellharbour yesterday, caught up with an old mate he grew up with ( on a job site nonetheless!) and got talking. His mate had been crabbing the day before and pulled up a big load.. and didnt have much room in his freezer. Poses a problem right? Wrong! He gives Shane an Aldi plastic bag FULL of frozen Blue Swimmer Crabs. True to Shanes form, he wanted for them tea. Right, Hurdle one, defrosting them. Filled the sink with hot (not boiling) water and threw them in while still in the bag ( I didnt want them to get water logged... Blonde Moment much?!?!) Hurdle two, How on earth do I cook them??

Well when Shane and I met 5 years ago we went to QLD to visit his parents ( mad fisherman his dad is!) and I had crab for the first time... I couldnt believe how good it was! Got me thinking about how we ate Seafood, we had always eaten it fresh. Dad never was and still is not a massive fan of cooking it on the BBQ... I wanted to try to make Singapore Chilli Crab.. 5 Years pass.. and i Finally made it last night.

So I jump on trusty google and type "Singapore Chilli Crab"... Google goes into over drive and I have SOOOOO many options. The only problem? I dont know what Half the ingredients are and I was sure my little local IGA didnt stock them... Search again... hmm interesting find a half decent looking recipe and only need 3 ingredients! Armed with my recipe and shopping list I confront Shane. "How do I do the crabs?" I ask him... " Get ya pot and boil up some water with salt" He says... "Nooo but i have to cook them from green but i have to shell them or something about the gills" Is my response. "Nuh nuh nuh look i'll ring Dad and he can explain" Shane says. So here I am on the phone to my father in law and his almost wetting himself with laughter as I tell him my situation.. His response "Sweetheart after so long cant you tell that Shanes just trying to get out of the dirty work!? Put him on I will tell him to gut them". So there i stand in shock.. Shane had pulled a sneaky on me and wanted me to gut ( which I had no idea that crabs had 'guts') these crabs when he knew all along how to do it! So he gets in MY kitchen ( as he so kindly puts it) and starts gutting these crabs. He calls me over to show me how to do it.. lets just say we were very close to eating Laurens Vomit Crabs!

Anywayssssssss! ( sorry, the image of crabs is imbedded in my mind and it isnt pleasant!) Crabs are "prepared" ( that sounds so much nicer than gutted dont you think!?!?) and I start cooking.. Dad walks in and his eyes light up and i have literally an audience watching me cook (nerve raking experience let me tell you!) Shane goes out and starts the BBQ and my house is smelling of all these wonderful spices. Its looking like its working! So Im excited! Fears been put aside, I really dont think Im going to stuff this recipe up I think to myself as my confidence grows.

So heres the recipe: ( It is derived from a recipe on Taste.com)

Ingredients (serves 8)

• 6 tsp sesame oil
• 12 green (uncooked) blue swimmer crabs
• 6 tbl Mince garlic 
• 4 tbl Chilli Paste ( add more or less as you taste desires)
• 4 tbs finely grated fresh ginger 
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 6 tbs sweet chilli sauce
• 1/4 cup sherry
• 4 tbs brown sugar
• Green shallots, ends trimmed, thinly sliced diagonally

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large wok over high heat until just smoking. Add the crab and stir-fry for 5-7 minutes or until just cooked (the crabmeat will turn white when cooked).
2. Add the garlic, chilli and ginger, and stir-fry for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the tomato and sweet chilli sauces, sherry and sugar, and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes or until sauce boils and thickens slightly. Remove from heat. Add the green shallot and stir until just wilted. Serve in a bowl and garnish with more shallots.

All I can say is OMG! It tasted absolutley amazing! But its all good and well to say it tasted good.. But how bout you click below and see how good it was!

WARNING

The follow photos contain images of my family eating!
(and that may not be pretty! hehe)



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So as you can see from the photos, we had cake too!!! (wouldnt be a birthday without cake now!)

I used the fabulous Miss Sams recipe: See Here! and added a bit of cocoa, Made some chocolate icing and topped with smarties and mini M&M's.

So all in all, we still had our original menu, but with the addition of the yummy, lip smacking, finger licking Chilli Crab!

Well the sun is shining here, so i better get some washing done!

Sending lots of Love and light!