Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Serves: 4
When we arrived in Broome, we planned to stay for one week, but we stayed for nearly five! We escaped for a week to explore the beautiful Dampier Peninsula with our good friends. On our way up, we stopped for a few nights at Lombadina, a small Aboriginal community that offers a couple of campsites to the public. The Bardi people welcomed us warmly, and the boys made friends with a local guide named Bud, who took them mud-crabbing through the mangroves, using his instinct and knowledge to hunt sustainably.
After a full day out, the boys returned to camp with a collection of fish and mud crabs. We rummaged through our pantry to see what we could create and then stopped by the local bakery to grab a loaf of their wood-fired bread. We went to the beautiful beach, where we cooked and enjoyed this crab recipe straight from the camp oven until the sun went down. This has quickly become my favourite way to eat mud crab—the sticky, sweet, and spicy sauce pairs perfectly with the crab meat. Trust me, you’re going to love this one!
Ingredients:
- 2-3 mud crabs, cleaned and de-gilled
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 6 lemongrass stalks
- 3 thumbs of ginger, roughly chopped
- 4 large red chillies (save one for garnish)
- 1 kaffir lime leaf
- 50g unsalted butter
- 1 cup lime juice
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1-2 cups water
- Flat-leaf parsley and coriander leaves
Instructions:
1. Prepare coals for the fire or preheat a large, heavy pot.
Chilli Ginger Sauce:
- Using a mortar and pestle, combine the garlic and sea salt and begin mashing to create a paste. Add the lemongrass and then the ginger, muddling them down evenly into the garlic.
- Finely chop the red chillies and kaffir lime leaf, adding them to the mixture. Continue to muddle; if you have a blender, a quick blitz works well.
- Mix the lime juice and brown sugar into the lemongrass mixture.
- Heat the camp oven over coals at medium-high heat.
- Once the mud crab is cleaned and de-gilled, break it in half and crack open the legs and claws with the back of a knife in several places to maximize the crevices for the sauce to soak into the meat.
- Melt the butter in the camp oven before adding the lemongrass mixture. Cook until bubbling, then add 1 cup of water. If you have larger crabs (over 1.5-2 kg), you may need to add extra water; they don’t need to be covered, just enough to spread the sauce evenly.
- Add the crabs to the pot, stirring to coat them in the sauce. It may take some effort to move the crab around; ensure the larger claws are at the bottom and the smaller legs are on top.
- Place the lid on and cook for 7-10 minutes, or until the crab is bright orange.
- Sprinkle with coriander leaves and sliced red chilli.
- Serve with a nice crusty bread while enjoying the sunset on the beach with friends.
Notes:
Blend this in a food processor for a faster and finer sauce. As seen in my YouTube video, this sauce can also be used for precooked crab, crayfish, and prawns.
Leftovers:
Crab cakes are delicious and can go a long way mixed with leftover herbs and breadcrumbs.