How To Cook Sand Crabs?
Are you wondering how to cook sand crabs? That’s pretty easy: to cook sand crabs, you need to boil them in hot water for around 7 minutes from the boil. That’s it!
There are so many things to know if you want to make this delicious dish, so keep reading!
Table of Contents
How do you cook sand crabs?
Sand crabs are an exciting food: the Atlantic sand crabs, called mole crabs, sand fleas, or blue swimmers in some countries, are tiny crabs you can actually find on beaches all around the world. These saltwater creatures can be cooked in many different ways: they can be deep-fried, you can cook them in boiling water for five to seven minutes.
How long do you cook sand crabs?
If you decide to catch sand crabs and take them home, unless you want to use them as bait to hunt larger fish, you should cook crabs and not eat them raw.
Cooking time may vary as little crabs can be boiled in water for 5 to 7 minutes, while larger crabs need 15 to 20 minutes. Once the sand crab is done, its shell will turn bright orange.
Are sand crabs good to eat?
Even though very few people know about the Atlantic sand crab, this crustacean is entirely edible and pretty good! It is very versatile seafood, as you can eat sand crabs boiled, fried in hot oil, or use them to create soup stock.
The sand crab is served as a typical Indonesian seafood dish, which is sand crab in Padang sauce (recipe below).
What do sand crabs taste like?
Sand crabs are very similar to soft shell crabs in taste, so they’re quite delicate. Crab fried or dipped in Padang sauce, which is made with tomato sauce, oyster sauce, rice flour, ginger, and ground spice, are very popular in Indonesian coastal cities.
How do you clean a sand crab?
So, how do you clean sand crabs? To prepare them, just follow these directions:
1. Remove the tail and squeeze out the intestines.
2. Rinse the sand crab thoroughly until no more sand or debris comes out of their skeletons.
3. Your sand crabs are now ready to be boiled, fried in cooking oil, or pan-fried
How to make Padang crab?
Since sand crabs are abundant seafood usually found in Indonesian coastal cities, one popular Indonesian seafood dish is sand crabs in spicy Padang sauce (Kepiting saus Padang in Indonesian). Here’s how you prepare this unique and distinctive dish:
1. Clean the sand crabs and cut them into pieces. Boil them or fry them in hot oil
2. Heat 4 tablespoons of cooking oil and saute ground spices, along with ginger and tomatoes.
3. In the same pan, add oyster sauce, chili sauce, tomato sauce, water or broth, sugar, pepper, and rice flour. Let this mixture cook until the sauce thickens.
4. Place the sand crabs in the pan and mix. Once the crab is well seasoned, remove it from the pan.
5. Enjoy this crab served with fluffy, warm rice and this incredible Padang sauce!
Summary
Now you know how to cook sand crabs! Just boil them in hot water for roughly 7 minutes, and that is it!
