How to Make Blue Crabs 2 Ways! (Steamed and Cua Ram)

Hey guys I’m officially 29! If you don’t know or follow me on social media, I spent the last week celebrating my birthday with my family in Florida!

It was super nice seeing my family and spending a vacation with them because I haven’t seen them in over a year so I missed them a lot. We got to explore the left side of Florida, so Port Charlotte and Tampa were where we were spending most of our time.

When in Florida, of course you have to have Florida staples. In this case we got some delicious blue crabs from a wholesaler called crab Island Co. The blue crabs were $25 for a dozen so we ended up buying two dozen. The guys that work there were super nice and they ended up giving us a free dozen! So we walked away with about 36 crabs! Which was plenty for four people!

Being at the Airbnb we were very limited on kitchen supplies so we ended up cooking the crabs two ways, steamed and ram (or stir fried)!

Now to steam the crabs it was pretty easy we just gently scrubbed the crabs and put it in a steamer with some lemons/oranges for 15 to 20 mins. You can even sprinkle some old bay or Cajun seasoning on top to add a little flavor to the crabs. This method is pretty easy and quick to the point I also recommend making a salt, pepper and lemon dip on the side to eat your crabs with!

The recipe below I’m sharing is my mom‘s quick version on a Cua ram. Usually when we make this traditionally it has more ingredients but because we were limited my mom only had the spices that she brought with. Which ended up being just as delicious if not easier!

The seasonings are adjustable depending on what you like. We started with about 1 tsp of each one of the spices and then you can always add more after.

One of the things my mom always does is when she’s done cooking this, she’ll remove the crabs and then add fresh cooked rice into the pot to stir fry it with the sauce from the crabs! Highly recommend!

How to Make Blue Crabs 2 Ways! (Steamed and Cua Ram)

Recipe by Jen H. DaoCourse: Recipes

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Ingredients

• 25 blue crabs (cleaned)

• Seasonings

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 1 1/2 tsp red pepper

• 1 tsp msg

• 1 tsp five spice

• Aromatics

• 3-4 green onions
  (white parts chopped, green parts sliced into 1 in sections)

• 1 in knob ginger (sliced)

• 1 jalapeno (sliced)

• 1-2 tbsp avocado oil

Directions

• Gently scrub and clean outside of crabs. Remove the shell and scoop out any crab guts and place into a bowl for later. Cut off the crab legs and mouth with scissors and remove the little fans and apron of the crab.
• Mix all the seasonings in a bowl and with half of the seasonings, sprinkle on the crabs.
• Heat up oil on med/high heat and add crabs in a single layer (you may need to do this in two batches). Cook for 10-12 mins. Remove crabs from heat.
• In a new pot on med/high heat, add the oil produced from cooking the crabs. Add the ginger and white parts of the onion. Stir-fry for 2 mins. Add the crabs and crab guts (from earlier), and the rest of the seasoning mix. Shake/mix to coat everything evenly.
• Put the lid on and cook for 5 mins. Remove the lid and give it a good shake/mix to make sure it cooks evenly. Add jalapeños and green onions and mix gently for 1-2 mins. Serve with a side of rice!