Crab w/ Coconut Milk and Ghost Pepper

There is an abundance of crab this season and I have had my share of this delicious crustacean. Crabs are my favorite shellfish. My grandfather on my father's side was a fisherman in the Philippines and I remember the days when he used to come home along with other local fishermen carrying their bounty. Fresh crabs, fish and shrimps every day!

I've had baby crabs, mud green crabs, blue crabs, alaskan crab and dungeness crabs. I think that my favorite is still the mud green crabs. They are very fatty and sweet. Most of the time, I will just boil the crab with salt and then eat them with steamed rice and dip the crab with vinegar. Lately, I have been experimenting on how to prepare my crabs to make them feel special and make my meal more tastier! I've been trying all types of peppers to come up with a spicy recipe. I'm so blessed to be living in the San Francisco bay area where you can find dungeness crab for as cheap as $2.99 a pound! I can totally eat these babies every day :)

Here is what I prepared today and I think it will be a great recipe to repeat on every crab season! I think that the Ghost Pepper made a difference because it is suppose to be the hottest pepper in the world! WHOA!!! My mouth was on fire but it was absolutely delicious with the coconut milk and thai basil.

Ingredients and Preparation:

Serves 1

1 Dungeness Crab Fresh or Pre-Cooked

1 Ghost pepper or 5 Sereno peppers (cut in half)

1/2 tablesoon ground black pepper

1 can of coconut milk

3 cloves of chopped garlic

3 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup of fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup water

Clean the crab well and chop it into pieces. Save the green and juicy stuff in the shell and set aside. If you don't like that part of the crab, toss it but I prefer to incorporate it because it will taste better with it.

Heat up your wok or large frying pan or pot and add vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and brown by stirring frequently. Then add the crab pieces and water and do a quick stir. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.

Uncover and add the coconut milk, basil, blackpepper and ghost pepper or your choice of hot pepper. Stir, cover and cook for about 15 mins in medium heat. Enjoy this dish with steamed rice.