Black Pepper Crab

I love crabs and crabs love me - Enough said! I got this recipe from SBS.com. The whole recipe word to word is from their site. It was just perfect!! I did not fry the crabs, however, as I had precooked steamed crabs. I just tossed them in the sauce and let steam for 5 to 8 minutes before serving. Thanks to HP for the recipe.

Ingredients

• 4blue swimmer crabs
• 250 ml(1 cup) vegetable oil
• 35 g(¼ cup) black peppercorns, lightly crushed
• 4garlic cloves, sliced
• 5 cmpiece ginger, peeled, sliced
• ½bunch spring onions, sliced
• 2long red chillies, thinly sliced
• 60 ml(¼ cup) soy sauce
• 60 ml(¼ cup) oyster sauce
• 2 tspcaster sugar
• 80 gunsalted butter, chopped
• 125 ml(½ cup) chicken stock
• 1bunch coriander, leaves picked

To prepare crabs, break off tail flaps on the underside and discard. Carefully pull off back shells and reserve. Remove ‘dead man’s fingers’ (soft gills) and discard, then rinse and discard stomach sac. Cut each crab in half lengthwise, then crack large claws to ensure they cook through. Pat crabs dry using paper towel.

Heat oil in a wok over high heat to 180°C (or until a cube of bread turns golden in 10 seconds). Add crabs in batches and cook, turning occasionally, for 2 minutes or until just before cooked through. Using tongs, remove crabs and drain on paper towel.

Remove half the oil from wok and discard. Add peppercorns, garlic, ginger, half the spring onions and half the chillies to the wok and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant.

Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, butter and chicken stock, and simmer for 1 minute. Return crab to wok and simmer, turning occasionally, for a further 4 minutes or until sauce has reduced. Top with remaining spring onions, chillies and coriander leaves, and serve immediately.

Asian Cabbage Salad

Asian cabbage salad

Ingredients:
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
1/2 cup finely shredded carrot
1/8 cup thinly sliced red onion
Dressing:
1 or 2 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
Few drops Sesame oil
Vinegar
1 or 2 small Roasted garlic, peeled and crushed
Salt/Sugar/Black pepper
1 tbsp Coarsely crushed peanuts
Cilantro for garnish

Mix all the dressing ingredients together. Pour over the dressing and toss well. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Dosas - Indian Crepes

Dosa Batter Recipe:

3 cups rice
1 cup white udad dal
One handful Poha

Soak both separately for 6 to 8 hours, or overnight. Separately grind them in  blender adding little water. Grind the poha with some water.  Mix all three together.  You do not want the batter too watery as you can always dilute as per your choice later but you cannot go back. You can also grind a few methi seeds and add that to the batter. Keep the batter in a closed pot in a dark warm place and let sit overnight to rise.

When ready to make dosas, take out few ladles in a small bowl, add salt and water as per your desired choice.

Heat a non stick pan on medium heat.  Take some batter in a ladle and start putting the batter in circles. Drizzle some oil. Keep the heat on low med. I generally flip my dosa as my dosa ends having peaks that might not cook if not flipped.

Serve with coriander chutney, sambhar or potato bhaji.

Note: Some people do 2 rice to 1 udad dal proportion. But that makes the dosa very soft which I do not like.

Margarita Grilled Chicken

Margarita Grilled Chicken is my favorite dish when I go to Chillis. I found this recipe online but made some changes to it. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 Chicken Tenderloins
Margarita mix
Tequila
1/4 cup Black Beans (canned beans drained)
Handful of Green beans (cooked in boiling water, drained)
Chipotle Seasoning
Cheese
Salt and Black Pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder

1. Marinate chicken in a ziploc bag with 1/8 cup margarita mix and 1tbsp tequila. Marinate for atleast 2 hours.
2. Heat griddle When hot, add oil, add the chicken. Add some chipotle seasoning, salt, pepper garlic and onion powder. Flip after 3 to 4 minutes. Grill until no longer pink on the inside. (Since I am using tenderloins, they cook really fast. If you use chicken breasts, make sure they are pounded for tender results)
3. When cooked, add a little cheese over the chicken.
4. Add the black beans and green beans in the same pan. Season a little and keep the pan moving to coat the seasoning.

Serve hot. Makes 1 serving.