Lobster anyone?

One of my friend's mother offered to cook us a lobster & crab meal over the Easter holidays.  Off I went with Mrs Lee to the Fish Market.  It was filled with people this Easter Saturday with busloads of tourists trying the oysters and seafood or heading off to the Chinese restaurant for Yum Cha.

Would you believe that most of the fresh lobsters had been sold out?  And.. they were quite expensive i.e. around $89.90 a kg...the price should drop after the Easter holidays.  Well, in order to pick lobsters, go for the red shells rather than the green shelled... something to do with the meat... The red shelled lobsters are usually from Tasmania and the meat is firmer.  The lobster should preferably be between 1.5 - 2.0kg and not more... if it is bigger than 2.0kg the meat would be tough.  Turns out that we were really lucky - after moving a few crabs and lobsters around in the tank, we got our 2kg lobster.  We then bought 3 mud crabs to go with the meal.

The cleaning of the lobster was interesting as I've never seen it done before.  A very sharp knife is required to chop the lobster on the base of the neck and turn the chopped parts of the body to drain out the urine.  The easiest is then to clean out the intestines, followed by the heart and the brains... ewww... The various parts are to be cleaned under water and left to dry.

In the meantime, Mrs Lee cooked the noodles to go with the lobsters and crabs.  The lobsters were to be served with the flat rice noodle while egg noodles were used for the crabs.  The egg noodels need to be cooked in hot water and then blanced in cold water to get the starch out.  Mrs Lee then mixed them with olive oil, Maggi seasoning, fish oil, soya sauce and sesame oil.  Smelt nice... The noodles can be eaten as it is but they should be pan fried prior to serving.  As for the rice noodle, the same marinade is used and left to soak up the sauces.  Prior to serving the lobsters, the rice noodle is then cooked in Mrs Lee's special stock.  The stock she used was some bacon, dried prawns and lemongrass which was boiled for about 30 minutes.  This stock smelt nice and was also used to cook the lobsters and crabs.

After 3 hours of preparation and cooking, the lobsters and crabs were ready... yum... not a sound to be heard....


Thanks Mrs Lee for cooking a feast and for opening your home!