Deep South meets Singapore in this dish I cooked for Anna in her kitchen the other day when I was still too depressed to use mine in the middle of a construction site. I’m sure soft shell crabs are a treat outside the Southern States too – Louisiana and Mississippi especially, but that’s where I had the first taste of them so for me they’re always a part of fond memories from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

Black pepper crab (and chili crab) on the other hand are something I’ve learned to enjoy in South East Asia, particularly in Singapore and in Hong Kong. There are other variations too, but I don’t really know their names. My hosts simply referred them as “spicy crab”. One of these spicy crab dishes I had in Hong Kong, and it had huge crabs cut into pieces on a bed of small whole chillies, which were mild enough to be eaten in heaps. I think the chillies were coated with a batter of some sort – if you think you might have a clue what this dish was, please leave a comment! I’d love to try to make it myself :)

Even though I’ve always enjoyed these Asian crab dishes a lot, I’ve also found it a bit onerous to separate the crab meat from the crushed shells and claws while dining. I had had my first spicy crabs way before Anna introduced me to the world of soft shells. The soft shell crabs I ate with her in Mississippi were deep fried in batter, and didn’t have much resemblance left to normal crabs taste or texturewise. I definitely didn’t hate them tough, but rather fancied the idea of chomping down whole crabs with shells, legs, claws and all.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you haven’t ever had soft shell crabs or perhaps even heard of them before – I hadn’t for sure before I saw two sitting on a plate in front of me in a restaurant :) If they are a new acquaintance for you, let me give a quick introduction: Soft shell crabs are blue (USA) or mangrove (Asia) crabs that have just molten their hard shells. As these crabs grow larger, their shells cannot expand so they molt the exteriors and have a soft covering for a matter of hours when they are vulnerable and considered usable. Usually crabs must be caught and killed within four hours of molting to be useful as soft shell crab. The resulting soft shell crab is a delicacy, which can literally be eaten whole, even though they look exacly like their hard shelled fellow creatures. I can promise you the first time you put a whole claw in you mouth feels really weird :)

Anyhow, since soft shell crabs can be eaten whole without any leftovers, I thought they’d make perfect spicy crabs. A couple of months ago I was strolling though the isles of an Asian grocery store in Sydney, and saw a rack of Singaporean chili and black pepper crab spice mixes. I bought one pack of Seah’s Black Pepper Crab Spices and brought it back to Finland with me.

Unfortunately soft shell crabs are really difficult to come by in Finland, so I had to wait almost three months until I found a new batch of them in one of the Asian stores I frequent in Helsinki. I finally had everything I needed for my Black Pepper Soft Shell Crabs experiment, and even Anna happened to be visiting from New York, so I knew my time had come.

Black Pepper Soft Shell Crabs

Serves 2

4 soft shell crabs
1-2 tbsp olive oil
black pepper crab spice mix (or make the spice mix from scratch)
fresh parsley for garnish
rice

Clean the soft shell crabs by removing the mouth and eyes with scissors, lift the shell from both sides and remove the gills, and cut away the apron (tail).

Steam the crabs in a bamboo steamer for 5-10 minutes until cooked and the shells have turned red(dish). Discard extra juices.

Heat the oil in a wok and add the spice mix. Stir for a minute or two until fragrant, but be  careful not to burn the spices. Lower the temperature and add the crabs and mix and turn carefully for a little while until evenly coated with pepper and the crabs are warm again.

Serve immediately on a bed of rice.

My apartment is still a mess because of the water damage, but I got my laptop back, and even managed to whip up something despite the debris around me. Today’s recipe may not be top cuisine – it’s definitely not what I had in my mind before I started cooking – but the end result was surprisingly pleasant. I luurv anything octopus, maybe that’s why ;)

I used to associate all tentacly seafood with rubber, mostly because of the deep fried “octopus rings” widely available in many restaurants. That is until I spent a few weeks in Milan on business, and tried their insalata di pulpo i.e. octopus salad. The dish had bite-sized tentacle pieces in olive oil and lemon juice, and the meat was more tender than the best chicked I’ve ever had. From that day on I’ve always looked for different octopus/calamari/sepia dishes whereever I go. Unfortunately I haven’t spent much time in Mediterranean countries famous for their seafood, but in addition to Italy, I’ve had great octopus dishes in Puerto Rico and Macau.

By the way, the rubbery, breaded and fried “octopus” rings are actually made from calamari. There are three different species that often are simply called octopus – calamari, sepia and octopus. Except for their eight tentacles, the three species don’t have that much in common. Albeit calamari and sepia can apparently be cooked to be tender (MM: tell me how!), I prefer octopus and its thick, juicy tentacles. Unfortunately Finland is the worst place in the world to buy them: the only selection seems to be frozen small ones (max 0,5 kg / 1 lbs). Many Mediterranean recipes call for octopi 2+ kg each – something I’m yet to find here :(

But since I am living amongst havoc, and haven’t really had the energy to replenish my food supplies, I only had frozen baby octopi in hand. A quick googling gave many tomato-based recipes, so that’s what I tried myself. The end result was rather plain to be honest, but then I tried to spice it up with some sweet chili sauce. Totally yummy! My original recipe was something like “Baby octopi in tomato and white wine sauce with pine nuts”, but scrap that! Just boil the octopi quickly and enjoy with sweet chili sauce! Here goes the “recipe”:

Baby Octopi With Sweet Chili Sauce

Serves 2-4 as a starter

900 g frozen or fresh baby octopi
1 can crushed tomatoes
fresh basil
1 big onion
lots of garlic
sweet chili sauce
salt, pepper
olive oil

Thaw the octopi in cold water if frozen. Set aside. Cut the onion in small cubes, crush the garlic, and saute in olice oil until soft and golden brown. Add the tomatoes and boil a few minutes. Add the baby octopi, and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Run through a sieve to discard extra juices.
Serve with sweet chili sauce and fresh basil. I liked the leftovers straight from the fridge too :)

Sorry for not updating the site in a while. The contractors working on the renovations of my building flooded my apartment last week. They had to remove the hardwood flooring from the whole apartment to allow the underlying concrete to dry. That’ll take a fortnight or so during which I’m not really able to cook much. Doesn’t that suck or what?!

As if the unsolicited water park in my living room wasn’t enough, my laptop started “leaking” electricity from its bottom. Even though I like the thrill of an unexpected electrocution as much as the next guy, I decided to send the machine to IBM for repairs. Unlike their superior service in the States, repairs take forever here  in Finland. If you know someone who knows someone who could poke somebody at IBM to expedite the repairs, please do let me know :)

Today we’re celebrating two years of Doughboy!

Well, not doughboy the blog, but the Real Doughboy – me :) I was flipping through some old albums, and found this picture of me baking – foodie code for the ultimate access to raw dough ;) The picture was taken in early spring 1978, which would make me late ones or early twos :P

Mom tells that Anna was helping her too when the picture was taken, but apparently had some urgent matters to attend to at that moment. In any case, our cooking together (give or take one Ocean) dates way back!

P.S. Pille, I’m posing here in a frigging pink apron – I challenge you to return the white one! ;)

OMG, I just realized it’s past midnight. It’s my 30th birthday. If there ever was a need for serious comfort food, this is it. *sob*

Instead of celebrating Mardi Gras in a skimpy costume to the beat of steel drums in Trinidad, I’m stuck in freezing cold New York stuffing two gigantic suitcases, preparing to take off for Finland. On days like this when food is just an afterthought, I often stop by the wonderful Japanese-Korean convenience store in my neighborhood, m2m, to pick up a tray of sushi and a few contrasting kimchi. (Boringly enough, I always choose the standard-issue white radish pickled in hot red pepper sauce, although they also carry a dozen more exotic varieties, such as lotus root, squid, or dried shrimp). Best of all, the store is cheap, cheap, cheap, at least by Manhattan standards.

I’ve never really noticed before that they have a tiny fresh produce section tucked away in the dark back corner. Among the vegetables, I was drawn to the alluringly thick fresh jumbo udon noodles, essentially soups in a box. (See this site for more udon ideas – Engrish alert! If you are stuck with the more common instant ramen, check out this quirky Seattle-based website.) Because of the bone-chilling breeze blowing down the river, a bowl of hearty soup sounded a lot more appealing than cold pieces of nigiri and maki.

At home, I quickly boiled some water and, in futile efforts to get rid off stuff that will spoil while I’m gone, threw in some mushrooms and vegetables from the fridge. Normally I’m not a huge fan of the MSG-laden flavor sachets that come with many instant noodles, but the one accompanying the jumbo noodles tasted just fine. Best of all, I was slurping piping hot soup within ten minutes of arriving home.

Quick Udon Noodle Soup

1 serving

5 dl (2 cups) boiling water
1 pkg fresh udon noodles or dried noodles
the flavor sachet of the noodles (this contained soy sauce, fish stock, sugar, salt, powdered kelp, and MSG)
4-5 fresh mushrooms
a handful of baby bok choy
1 sliced spring onion
2 hot thai chilli peppers

Add the noodles to the boiling water, boil for 2 min. Slice the mushrooms, chillies, spring onion and gently pull apart the bok choy. Add the contents of the flavor sachet and all fresh ingredients to the soup, boil for 2 minutes, and serve.

I accompanied the soup with white radish kimchi and warm sake, and had hot steamed Chinese custard buns for dessert. Yum!