梅子蒸梭子蟹 (Steamed Swimming Crab with Salted Plums)

材料

• 梭子蟹 1 隻（約一斤）
• 薑數片

自製梅子醬（只供參考，請按自己口味調配）

• 酸梅 5 粒
• 米酒 1 湯匙
• 茄醬 2 湯匙
• 冰花梅醬 1 湯匙
• 原沙糖 2 茶匙
• 醬油 1/4 茶匙
• 油少許

做法：

1. 洗乾淨蟹，斬件置於蒸碟。
2. 在易潔小鍋加小許油，加入所有梅子醬材料，用匙把酸梅略壓煮溶至有點濃稠，收火。
3. 把醬倒在蟹上，撒上薑片，置大火上蒸十至十二分鐘。我今天用水波爐蒸，由於最高溫只有 95C，所以蒸的時間亦稍為加長至 15 分鐘。 

小貼士：

• 步驟 3，倒入醬汁前要倒清碟入的水，以免蒸時過度稀釋汁醬，減少鮮味。  

Steamed Swimming Crab with Salted Plums

By PP's Cooking Journal

Ingredients:

• Swimming Crab x 1 (approx. 600g)
• Ginger slices

Homemade Salted Plum Sauce: (For reference, please adjust to your liking)

• Salted plums x 5
• Rice wine x 1 tbsp
• Ketchup x 2 tbsp
• Plum Paste x 1 tbsp
• Raw sugar x 2 tsp
• Soy sauce x 1/4 tsp
• Cooking oil, a drizzle

Method:

1. Wash the crab, cut into pieces and arrange on the plate which can sit comfortably with good ventilation in the cookware with lid which you are going to steam the crab.
2. In a small non-stick saucepan, add a little oil, pour in all the ingredients for the plum sauce. Squish the plums with a spatula, cook on a low flame until the flesh of the plums disintegrate into the sauce and the sauce thickened. Remove from heat.
3. Pour the sauce onto the crab, sprinkle the ginger slices. Steam on high heat for 10-12 minutes. I steamed my dish in Toshiba Microwave Oven with steam mode today, as the temperature could only be 95C, I steamed the dish for extra 3 minutes.

Tips:

• Must drain the water in the dish before pouring the sauce onto the crab in Step 3, or the sauce will be over diluted after steaming.

Vegetable Moussaka

This is a vegetarian interpretation of the Middle Eastern dish with ground meat and aubergines. A very flavoursome main course which needs quite a bit of preparation but we do love this dish, even my meat lover friends who do not like aubergines like to have this. 

Ingredients

A.  Dried green lentils 38 g

      Vegetable stock 200 ml

      Bay leaf 1 nos.

B.  Olive oil 1 tsp

     Onion, large, sliced 1/3

     Garlic, crushed 1 clove

C.  Mushrooms, sliced 75 g

     Chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1/3 can

     Fresh, ripe tomatoes, chopped 145 g

     Tomato puree 1 tbsp

     Dried herbes de Provence 2 tsp

     OR

     Fresh garden herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, etc.), chopped, handful

D.  Aubergine, 2 large, cut into 1 cm thick slices 
     Natural plain yogurt 100 ml

     Eggs 1 nos.

     Mixed grated cheese 40 g 

     Salt and freshly ground pepper

     Fresh Italian parsley, lightly chopped to garnish

Preparation:

1. Heat the vegetable stock in (B), simmer the lentils with bay leaf for 20 minutes until just tender. Drain thoroughly and keep warm.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large saucepan, stir fry onion and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes, stir constantly to prevent charring.
3. Stir in lentils and all ingredients of (C) and 3 tbsp of stock collected from the lentils. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stir occasionally. Season the lentil mixture with salt and pepper.
4. Preheat oven to 180°C.
5. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat and brown aubergine slices on both sides to reduce the water content.
6. Arrange a layer of aubergines in the bottom of a large, ovenproof, shallow baking dish, then spoon over a layer of lentil mixture, about half. Continue the layers until the aubergine slices and lentil mixture are used up. There should be 5 layers in total.
7. Beat the yogurt, eggs, salt and pepper and pour the mixture over the dish. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. Remove from oven, top with sliced cheddar and bake for another 15 minutes until the surface is golden brown and bubbling. Serve immediately. Garnish with chopped Italian parsley.

Serves as main course with salad greens and bread.