shanghai hairy crab

yes! now everything can fly! even live crabs! all the way from Shanghai! hehe...my aunt just came back from China. right after she touched down at KLIA, she showed up at my front door at about 11 pm with these strange tied up boxes. nope. it can't wait till tomorrow. it has to be eaten now.

at the sound of "hairy crabs", i cringed. the thought of putting anything hairy into my mouth was just weird. well, it turned out, i couldn't have enough of it! ahahah...

These crabs are premium dishes. To order one in a restaurant in Shanghai would probably cost you roughly 60 rmb each. and they're not all that huge as you can see. Apparently, to eat them is a luxury. After trying them out today, i'll tell you why.

firstly the crabs are seasonal. it's only fished during late autumn-early winter season. and they're not all that huge. so eating them is tricky. restaurants provide special toothpicks and small forks to pick the flesh out from hard-to-reach places. customers take their own sweet time to eat them. so eating these hairy crabs are a social event, where they meet to chat over crab. =)

and like most foods, these crabs have grades. i think this particular type my aunty brought back is about average in class. check out the stamp on the shell! ahahha...

the crab is eaten with some special sort of wine. the taste is said to be so exquisite, that it should not be taken with anything else like chilli, soy sauce, ketchup etc. it should only be sprinkled with that wine and taken like that. i have nothing to complain about this, for i personally don't like crabs in sauce. oh and it has to be steamed, not fried or grilled.

the hair is only on the crab's clamps (or whatever you call them...it's 'kong' in hokkien). and it is pretty disgusting if you look at it. but whatever's inside the shell is delicious. These crabs are more known for their 'eggs' (the orange stuff) than their flesh. so they've got loads of it. hehe...high reproduction rates i think...

and here's the funny thing. all the crabs that my aunty brought tonight were males. and yet they do have 'eggs'. are crabs bisexual?? haha....

my porpor loved it. while she was eating it, she told me about howmy yehyeh loved it so much last time but had not enough money to buy it. so he'd buy just one to be shared by a family of 6. hehe...

though i specialise in eating shelled seafood in my family, i was unsuccessful in getting the flesh out of the clamps. i didn't have that hammer thingy they provided in the restaurant. so all of my clamps went to my dad who used a pair of kitchen scissors. i'd sink my teeth into it, but looking at all that hair, not such a good idea....=)

i devoured 2 crabs. and that was supper. talk about high cholesterol! now if crabs here were cooked this way here, i wouldn't mind eating them. its the sweet and spicy sauce that i dislike. mmm...

my grandma asked me which i prefer, prawns or these crabs? haha...that's a tough question. but i think prawns it is. prawns are my favourite. be it fried, steamed, grilled or baked. prawns it is!

but i savour these crabs now. for the only time i'll be eating them again would be if someone else heads to Shanghai and flies some home.

hehe...alright...sleep i shall.

i braved the terrain of Gasing Hills this morning with daddy dearest. and tomorrow morning is dancing time with the swimmers....