Crab, avocado and coconut salad
INGREDIENTS
6cm piece ginger
½ cup (125ml) olive oil
1 cooked mud crab, meat picked, or 400g crab meat
1 avocado, diced
1 Lebanese cucumber, seeded, peeled, finely diced
1 lime, half segmented and broken into small pieces, remainder juiced
2 green onions, sliced thinly
1 red chilli, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon fish sauce
salt and pepper
30g fresh coconut, grated coarsely
coriander sprigs, to garnish
METHOD
Slice ginger very thinly. Stack slices together on chopping board and slice again to create thin matchsticks or julienne; place in small saucepan with oil and heat gently for about 5 minutes to infuse the ginger's flavour into the oil; stand to cool to room temperature.
If using a whole cooked crab, then you need to carefully pick all the meat out of the carcass. Remove top shell and cut body in half. Carefully twist claws off body and gently pull meat out of body cavity as you pull claw away. Crack claws with back of a heavy bladed knife and pull away the shell. Place meat into a small bowl, taking care to remove any small shards of shell. This can be a painstaking process, but is worth it for the superior flavour of freshly cooked crab.
Combine avocado, cucumber, lime flesh and juice, green onion, chilli, fish sauce, a little salt and pepper and a tablespoon of the cooled, drained ginger oil, in a medium bowl. Using a metal spoon, gently fold all the ingredients together, being careful not to break up the avocado too much.
Spoon salad onto a serving plate and drizzle with some extra ginger oil; garnish with coriander.
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