Crab Meat Shells (Casquinha de Siri)
The reason for this dish's name is that traditionally it is baked and served in crab shells, but of course any individual oven-proof ramekins will do for this purpose.
This dish makes a perfect first-course for introducing the Bahian cuisine, since it contains typical ingredients of Bahian kitchen, such as dendê oil, coconut milk and manioc flour.
Tip: If you have difficulties finding Malagueta pepper, you can substitute it with red hot chili pepper.
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1 Kg (2 lbs 4 oz) shredded crab meat
6 slices white bread
½ L (1 pint) milk
2 medium size white onions
1 Malagueta pepper
1 tbsp. fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic
½ cup palm oil (dendê)
2 tomatoes
½ cup tomato paste
100 g (3½ oz) butter
½ cup coconut milk
2 egg yolks
½ cup parsley
coarse manioc flour
100 g (3½ oz) grated Parmesan
olive oil
salt
pepper
Preparation time: 45 mins.
Difficulty level: Easy-Medium
Servings: 10
Ingredients
Preparation
In a bowl shred the bread and soak with milk.
Shred the crab meat into small pieces.
Grate the tomatoes on a grater leaving the peel out.
Dice the onions, mince the garlic and the Malagueta pepper, peel and shred the ginger.
Heat a frying pan or a wok. Put 4 tbsp. olive oil and add the onion and the hot pepper, sauté until the onion is translucent.
Add the garlic and the ginger and sauté 1 minute more.
Add the palm oil and mix well, add the crab meat and cook for 3-4 minutes constantly stirring, then put aside.
In the same pan add 3 tbsps. olive oil and melt the butter.
Add the soaked bread and cook while constantly stirring.
After 2 minutes add the tomatoes and mix well, then add the coconut milk, the tomato paste, the egg yolks and finally the parsley. Season with salt and pepper and cook 5 minutes more, then mix in the crab meat and remove from the heat.
Fill the shells (or ramekins) with the mixture, sprinkle manioc flour and Parmesan and bake for about 2 minutes until the top is nicely browned.
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