Mamak Mud Crab

Name: Mamak Mud Crab
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: blue swimmer crab; bug; marron; prawn; rock lobster; 3 brown cardamom pods, seeds only; 2 green cardamom pods, seeds only; steamed basmati rice, for serving; ½ cup (125 ml) peanut oil; ½ teaspoon salt flakes; ½ small pineapple, peeled and diced; 2.5 cm piece ginger, roughly chopped; 4 cloves garlic, peeled; ½ small coconut, grated; 1½ cups (375 ml) coconut cream (see Basics); 6 red shallots, sliced; 1 teaspoon poppy seeds; 3 x 1.5 kg live mud crabs; 2 cloves; 8 red shallots, roughly chopped; 2 star anise; 2 tablespoons ground coriander; 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper; 2 cm piece cinnamon stick, broken; 1 teaspoon ground turmeric; 3 cloves garlic, sliced

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Sydney Seafood School Cookbook

By Roberta Muir

Published 2012

About

Cheong Liew served this dish as part of a special dinner held at the Grange Restaurant in Adelaide on 31 December 1999, to see in the new millennium. Later, he taught it at the Seafood School. Mamak, the Tamil word for uncle, refers to the southern Indian Muslims of Malaysia and their cuisine. Mud crabs are a bit fiddly to work with as they have to be bought live, but the large sweet chunks of meat they contain