Do You Know How to Kill a Crab?

I didn't know how and it brought up a hilarious memorable experience for CJ and me some many years back.

We wanted to make our own Chili Crab and went to the market to buy some live crab. When we reached home and threw them into the sink. We cut open the rope that held their claws together. Mistake!

The crabs started crawling about the sink and in the midst of my flapping arms and squealing panic, CJ grabbed a kettle of boiling water and poured it over the crabs and to our horror.... ALL THEIR LEGS DROPPED OFF!!

What the.... *both of us standing there staring in shock...* was that supposed to happen??!

And then seeing that the crabs weren't totally dead yet, CJ took the knife and started stabbing the crabs a couple of times but they were still spasming. Oookay.. we took the tongs and put the bodies and dismembered claws into a plastic bag and did the next thing we could.

We shoved the bag into the freezer to freeze them buggers to death... *facepalm* Such inexperience indeed...

Some years down the road and several chili crabs/butter crabs and pepper crabs dishes later.. I've become quite adept in killing, cleaning and preparing the crabs for cooking. I never fail to get some puncture wounds while in the process of doing so however. Them crabbies are sharp and painful!! *ouccch!!*

Crabs can cost from $5-$15 per piece at the wet market. Usually they're weighed in according to kilos. I prefer to choose larger hard shelled *greenish/orange/grey coloured* versions as opposed to flower crabs *spotted/light green/flowery patterned* or softer shelled small black/brown crabs.

How to kill a crab is actually quite easy. Ensure the claws are still tied or it will put up a fuss. Flip the crab over, open up its "flap". Take a chopstick or a knife and stab it right in the centre aka "its heart" and leave it there for a couple of minutes. It will die in a few minutes.

Before you decide to snip off the string tying the claws.. ensure its dead first, proceed to slot a knife into its base and pry off its top shell.. you can then break the crab in half.

Clean up the "lungs" and excessive spiky parts. Scrub with a brush and water and use a mortar to crack the shells before proceeding to cook as per which ever recipe you have chosen for your dish. My mother in law cooked tonights' Chili Crab but I'm sure there are many recommended recipes you can google up to try. :) *Slurps*

Oh! And yes, would I consider this something I'd eat to lose weight? YES!! CRAB! = Seafood! = High protein = Low carb = Lose weight? = YES!! Just that I won't be slurping up too much of its gravy and definitely won't be dipping bread into this dish anytime soon. Still good though! Finger lickin' Good!