Of conchs and crabs

THERE are many sumptuous variants of seafood available to us other than regular fish. It’s liming season here in TT straight through to Carnival. Crab and conchs have become quite popular at this time.

Conchs are available in the frozen seafood section of your grocery, and crabs are a staple at the weekend markets. They both make excellent cutters, so why not incorporate them into your next Carnival lime!

To prepare lambie/conchs

Wash in lots of water, squeeze the juice of one lime onto it, cover in water.

Place lambie on chopping board.

Remove skin by cutting off with a knife or tearing it away from the body of the lambie, this is an easy process.

You want to remove all the dark and orange-coloured skin.

Place into more cool water with lime juice.

Cut into three-inch pieces and pound until the flesh is about ¼-inch to ⅛-inch thick.

Now chop finely and use in your favourite recipe.

Curried Lambie/ Conchs

1 lb lambie or conchs, skin removed, pounded and chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

½ cup chopped chives, minced

2 tbs vegetable oil

2 small onions, sliced

1 hot pepper, seeded and chopped

1½ tbs curry powder mixed with ¼ cup water

1 lime

1 tbs chadon beni

Wash lambie and squeeze juice of ½ lime over, add, chives and garlic, let stand for 30 minutes.

Heat oil and add onion, sauce until almost brown, add curry paste, and stir and fry until all the water has evaporated. Add lambie and hot pepper, stir well.

Cook for a few minutes uncovered, then cover and cook on a low heat for about 20 minutes.

Add only a small amount of water at a time to prevent sticking.

Sprinkle with chadon beni and serve with additional lime.

Serves 4

Lambie can be purchased frozen in the grocery stores, they are from the large conch shells, the small black shelled conchs can be purchased and cleaned from the fish market.

Hot and Spicy Pepper Crabs

Marinade

2 lbs fresh crab, cleaned and chopped into two each

1 tbs minced garlic

2 tsp salt

2 tsp fresh lime juice

2 tbs vegetable oil for frying

Add

1 tbs chopped garlic

2 tbs Chinese chili garlic sauce

1 hot pepper, chopped

¼ cup chopped chives

Sauce

1 tbs oyster sauce

1 tbs tomato ketchup

½ tsp granulated sugar

1 tsp sesame oil

Season crabs with the marinade, refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Combine sauce ingredients and set aside.

Heat a large sauté pan or wok, add vegetable oil, garlic, chili garlic sauce and hot pepper, stir and fry until fragrant, add crabs to wok, stir and fry until they turn reddish in colour, cover and steam cook for 15 minutes, then add sauce ingredients, stir fry for a few minutes more.

Remove from pot and sprinkle with chives.

Serves 4

Curry Crab and Coconut Dumplings

Filling:

6 ozs crab meat

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp lime juice

2 tbs vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 pimento pepper, seeded and chopped

¼ tsp allspice

Curry sauce

2 tbs vegetable oil

1 hot pepper, seeded and chopped

2 tbs chopped onion

2 cloves garlic

2 tbs curry powder

½ cup water

2 cups coconut milk

¼ cup chopped chadon beni

¼ cup chopped chives

juice of one lime

Dumplings

2 cups flour

1 tsp butter

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and rub butter into flour until mixture is grainy, slowly all water and knead to a stiff dough. Cover and let rest for about 30 minutes.

Season crab with salt, pepper, and lime juice.

In a large sauté pan, heat oil, add garlic, onion and pimento pepper, cook for about one minute, add crab and toss to combine, Remove from stove and cool.

Cut dumpling dough into 12 pieces. Make each piece into a round. Shape each piece of dough into a 2½ to 3-inch circle. Place about one teaspoon of meat into the lower centre of the dough. Fold other half over and seal. Repeat until all the dumplings have been filled.

Make the curry sauce:

Heat vegetable oil in a sauté pan, add garlic, onion and pepper.

Sauté until fragrant.

Combine curry powder with water. Add to pan and cook until mixture begins to dry,

Add coconut milk and sprinkle on chives and chadon beni. Cook until bubbly.

Drop dumplings into curry mixture, cover and steam for a further ten minutes, turning dumplings once.

If mixture seems too dry add a little more coconut milk or broth.

Sprinkle on more chadon beni if necessary.

Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serves 4 to 6