Crab and mango salad with nuoc cham

Crab is my all-time favorite ingredient to come out of the ocean. This recipe was inspired by a trip to the Kimberley, where I met a couple of Aboriginal elders, Bryan and Bundy, who took me on a mud-crabbing adventure.

Credit: Curtis Stone's Travel, Cook, Repeat

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

This recipe will work with whatever crab you can find. The dressing can be made up to 2 hours ahead, covered and refrigerated. 

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup fresh lime juice
• ⅓ cup rice wine vinegar
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1½ tbsp (30 ml) fish sauce
• One 2.5 cm (1 in) piece fresh ginger, peeled, very finely chopped
• ½ red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 small mangoes, peeled, julienned
• 4 cooked stone crab claws
• ½ cup fresh small mint leaves
• ½ cup fresh small basil leaves
• ½ cup fresh small coriander (cilantro) leaves

Standing time: 20 minutes

Instructions

1. In medium bowl, whisk lime juice, vinegar, sugar, fish sauce and ginger. Stir in onion and mango. Set aside at room temperature for about 20 minutes to soften onion.

2. Remove shells and cartilage from crab meat, keeping meat in large morsel pieces.
3. Form bed of herbs on 4 plates. Using tongs, top herbs with mango mixture, and then top mango mixture with more herbs. Top with crab meat. Garnish with more herbs. Spoon dressing over and serve immediately.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

This recipe will work with whatever crab you can find. The dressing can be made up to 2 hours ahead, covered and refrigerated.