from my town on the taxi-brousse. Whenever someone finds out where I
live, Siranana, they say, "Oh there's lots of crab there. Bring me
some next time." Not knowing much about crabs, since I didn't eat
them before arriving in country, and not wanting to deal with the
hassle or the danger (the first volunteer at my site apparently got
medically evacuated due to a crab biting her Achilles tendon), I
hadn't carried crabs out of my site before. But with a trip to Diego
coming up and my good friend, Adrien, up there, I decided that it was
about time to try it out. Here's the process for getting the freshest
crabs:
1. Place your order in advance
The day before, I went to some neighbors that often sell crab and
said, "You won't have any crabs for sale tomorrow will you?" "Maybe,
you need some." "Yeah, I'm thinking about bringing a lot up with me
to Diego." "How much?" "Oh, a lot, really big ones too." "Ok, come
by tomorrow evening and grab them."
2. Get yourself a goony sack
You know the things you carry sacks of potatoes in? Yeah, one of those.
3. Pick up your crabs
Bring your goony sack to your neighbors, take a gander at the muddy
wicker basket filled with live crabs, and tell them you want 5000
Ariary worth (the equivalent of $2.50). That'll get you 10 of the
largest crabs you've ever seen (put your hands side by side and that's
the width). Then, ask for a gift because you bought so much. They'll
throw in 2 more. Then, tell them that you're going to be taking the
crabs on a little roadtrip 200km tomorrow. They'll throw a bunch of
fresh mud in with the crabs to give them some "godra" to move around
it, which will allow them to stay alive.
4. Go to sleep
I had to pick up the crabs in the evening and the brousse to Diego
wasn't until morning, so I went to sleep with the sound of 12 live
crabs scuttling 5 feet from my bed. Sweet dreams, huh?
5. Throw your crabs in the back of the brousse
I tied up the goony sack extra tight and stuffed it in the back of the
brousse under my seat. I then rode 6 hours to Diego with the bag
poking my legs oddly every now and then.
6. Strap the crabs to your bike rack and head to town
The brousse drops you off in Diego a couple miles outside of town from
the Peace Corps transit house in Diego, so Josh and I rode our bikes
into town with the crabs tied to my bike rack.
7. Give some crabs away
Crabs in Diego are super expensive, 5 times the price as in Siranana.
So, my buddy was pretty happy when I called him and told him to drop
by and pick up some fresh dinner.
8. Recruit cooks to help
Even after giving some crab away, we definitely still had at least 5
pounds left and since Josh and I had never cooked crab before, we
asked the guard to help up with the preparation.
9. Fight
Live crabs are feisty and don't enjoy being mutilated. I don't how
things are done in the States, but here, you prepare the crabs live.
First, you clean off the mud with a scrub brush, then take a knife to
their pincer arms and rip them off, then rip off their outer shell
while its legs are clawing at your wrist, clean out whatever part of
the body you just opened up, and finally, chop it in half. Somewhere
along the line, the crab dies. Probably at the outer shell part, I
don't know.
10. Prepare your sauce
We sautéed a kilogram of tomatoes, half kilogram of onions, tons of
garlic, and 5 huge bell peppers into a sauce to cook the crabs in.
11. Steam the crabs
Boil water, put in a grating so the crab are not submerged in the
water but above it, and let them steam for 15 minutes or until their
shells turn orange/red.
12. Add the sauce
Add the sauce to the steamed crabs and let everything mix over low
heat for a while.
13. Cook some pasta and rice
As part of a balanced diet, to accompany our meat and veggie dish, we
made some pasta.
14. Enjoy!
Josh, Thinh, and I brought the finished product down from the transit
house and ate with the guard at his post. We had a blast hanging out
with him and were glad to start our Friday night with a family style
dinner in the cool Diego breeze.
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