Dominica Crab Backs is a traditional Dominican (from the Island of Dominica) recipe for a classic dish of crab back shells stuffed with a blend of the crab meat, onion, peppers, cheese and breadcrumbs. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Dominican version of: Dominica Crab Backs.
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Many Caribbean islands (notably Trinidad) have versions of this dish. Essentially dressed crabs with the crab meat served stuffed into the top carapace of the crab. In essence, the recipe gives a Caribbean twist to Victorian dressed crab. (See the Mrs Beeton recipe for to dress crab and the modern Canadian version of dressed crab for the Victorian recipe and a modern evolution of it.) Note that this recipe can be prepared from 8 large fresh crabs or from frozen or fresh crab meat and crab shells. Note that if preparing the recipe from whole crabs you need really fresh crabs, the fresher the better.
Ingredients:
500g of crab meat and 8 crab back shells
2 red onions, diced
1 hot chilli pepper, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
Coconut oil
60g grated cheese
50g breadcrumbs
pinch of ground black pepper
Salt, to taste
Method:
Place the crabs in a little boiling water to cook for 5 minutes. Then, remove them from the water, crack their thoraxes, and clean them. Remove the meat with your hands, separating the fat. Leave the shell aside. Avoid damaging the upper shell throughout the process, as it will be used for stuffing later.
Place a frying pan over medium heat. Add coconut oil and use to fry the onions, chilli, red bell pepper and garlic for about 4 minutes, or until the onion is soft. Shred the crab meat (both white and brown) and add to the pan with a splash of water.
Continue cooking until the the liquid has almost evaporated and a soft dough forms.
Fill the shells with the resulting dough, then add grated cheese and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
Take the stuffed shells, arrange them on a baking tray then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180C and bake for 10 minutes. Serve hot.
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