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Di Bawoh Rang Ikang Kering
Random Ramblings of A Retired Retainer

KETANG

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Just to welcome Kak Teh to the world of blogging, I will write about crabs, the crustaceans, not (God forbids) the STD. Actually, I should thank Kak Teh for giving me a topic to write on.

Any seafood restaurant worth its gaudy sign will have crabs on the menu. You are spoilt for choice. There are many. Among them chilli crab, marmite crab and steamed crab. The chilli crab I love is the one with layers of burnt udang kering underneath. Drat, my keyboard is wet with my saliva already. Used to have crabs in the old Bangsar Seafood and also in the "coconut grove", outside Klang town. I had ketam in Pulau Ketam too. I also remember the delicious crab meat cold salad (complete with chili padi booby traps) in a coffee shop in Sungai Golok. My friends gave me that to eat while they drink beer. I drink glasses upon glasses of asam boi.
The other notable crab dish I know is in Terengganu. Baked crab in Malaysia Restaurant, Cukai is famous. The crab meat is mashed with other stuff like slivers of ginger and onion and then placed back in the crab shell and closed with a layer of egg white before being baked. Hj. Wan Adnan, a native of Cukai, assured me that the crab is halal. Go early. They run out fast.

Crabs (ketam nipah in Terengganu because ketam batu is rarely eaten) are not fished but trapped or netted with ssauk. In Terengganu, the traps are called bito. The activity of catching crabs using bito is called, well, bitto. A bito looks like a small pyramid. The frame used to be made of wood but now steel is used instead. The walls are made of nets with an opening for the crabs to crawl in. The opening is fashioned such that the crabs can go in but cannot come out. Sort of Hotel California for crabs ("You can check in but you cannot check out"). To entice the crabs to check in, a bait is hung on a hook inside the bito. Usually, shark meat is used. The bito is dropped into the river where the crabs are suspected (and expected) to pass by. A small plastic float at the end of the rope marked the position of the bito for easy retrieval later.

Non-commercial crabbers use ssauk (see pic) and a kerosene lamp to catch crabs. This method is called nyuloh ketang (Shining the light for crabs).
I have fond memories of my Bah and me catching crabs in Merang and Setiu using this method. The lamp is not to attract the crabs like the sutong. Crabs are rather homely I think and not swayed by bright lights. The lamp is there for you to see where they are in the shallow river water. Then you deftly bring the ssauk under them. The hissing lamp is also useful to see other denizens of the river like snakes and a nasty fish called ikang depu. This ugly fish has a habit of rushing in front of your path and then wait for you to step on its thorny head. If you do, you are in for a painful time. I was told that a good antidote for the sting is your own taik idung (snot). Never tried it though.

If we go on moonless nights, they say that the crabs wil have more roes in them. At the end of the evening (with or without the moon in attendance), usually nearly midnight, this nyuluh ketang method got us about a kerosene tin full of ketang nipoh. By that time, my mother was too crabby to do any fancy stuff with the crabs. So we usually have boiled crabs and eat them with kicap (soya sauce, Jackie).

The Malay Satay Hut Menu page (Seattle) from where the pic of the dry curry crab was taken.


| 12:01 AM :: ::
57 CommentsOldStyle:
  • ikang depu sounds like some local p*licemen,hahah

    -riza

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:04 AM  
  • Ya Allah, ... Pok Ku, Cik Blab dah terlioq habih reading this!! I need to go to Fatty Crab. NOW.

    By Blogger Blabarella, at 12:16 AM  
  • Pok Ku,
    Air liur nnelleh dah. Ketang o ketang, mana nak dapak seko!

    Btw, is that Wan Adnan the native of Chukai also known as Wang Riping anok Wang Nawang, formerly of Tanjung? Or is that the one in Dungun? I get mixed up, what with thoughts of crabs (of the comestible type).

    By Blogger beta-blogger, at 12:22 AM  
  • pok ku, because of you I went out and bought sotong from the supermarket, which now lay frozen in the fridge. Now, i feel like buying crabs..but the problem is, i'm not so sure about the right way to clean and cut it...dang! should've paid attention when mummy was trying to teach me .. *sigh*

    By Blogger Hyphenated L, at 12:44 AM  
  • Pok Ku,
    I think the best title for this post is 'Oh, crap!'...
    I new discovery for me... It seems that our 'taik hidung' has a purpose after all, rather than blocking the nostrils.

    By Blogger Fuad, at 1:06 AM  
  • Pokku, tak tertahan dah salivating over the thoughts of crabs. Dahlah sini masih raya sakan so pasar tak buka kat tepi laut sana tu...haiyaaa...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:37 AM  
  • wahh!! sedapnya!

    me luv crabs too. first is prawns, then crabs and then lobsters.

    glad to see that you are blogging on seafood... my kind of food.

    interesting info there on how you catch crabs.

    reminds me of my childhood time when my brother and his neighbouring friends would go catch the king crabs in the mud, and i as a child like to 'tease' the king crab by holding its stout tail and swinging it. :)

    By Blogger lucia, at 1:44 AM  
  • Pok Ku, (kak Teh, wiping drool off keyboard,) suffice to say am truly honoured to be given such a welcome. Had my last decent meal of crab sambal three weeks ago and am still salivating. Crab sambal and toasts featured a great deal during our careless days of courtship spent at Medan Selera, Carey Islands and Pulau Ketam. I finally succumbed to his charms, when on our drive back from Klang, along that quiet road by the rubber estate where the ex-beauty queen was murdered, he slowed down the old VW and softly called my name. I turned around and saw true love. Two crab claws, fang-like, dangled from his mouth and the rest, as they say, is history.

    By Blogger Kak Teh, at 2:53 AM  
  • sedapnya...
    dusyum.fotopages.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:51 AM  
  • Owoh...masuk kreja baca hal ketang..mana dok lapo.
    Had the famous Kemamang Baked Crab the last trip to Kerteh..nyum! *I was assured at least one of it is halal - Restoran Malaysia*

    Everytime we go back to Chukai, we'll stop by a hut by the bridge where they sell live ketang nipoh by ikats. Sampai rumoh Wan, my aunties would rendam in hot water and cook them. I would be hiding in the house sebab if I see it, ssiang ke ketang kekgi dokleh makang!

    Marmite crab? Never tried. But don't you just love the sweet and sour crab - where they give you toast to soak the gravy..*drool*

    By Blogger lion3ss, at 8:39 AM  
  • Kak Teh: ini cerita betul ke ni???

    By Blogger elisataufik, at 8:41 AM  
  • Kene melawat Kak Teh punya blog macam ni.

    Anyway learn a new word today SNOT.

    And thank God Pok Ku mentioned the objective of the lamp, otherwise I'd be wondering and would have to ask you in this comment box.

    By Blogger Lollies, at 9:55 AM  
  • Camana nak tau ketam tu jantan atau betina? tak pernah pass menyiang ketam. Telur ketam pun sedap juga.

    By Blogger Aku Tak Reti, at 9:58 AM  
  • Zaireen: Go to Bandar Chukai. If you're coming from the KL-Kuantan highway, turn right at the traffic lights in town. Go straight. The row of shops selling baked crabs are facing the sungai It will be on your right after you pass the pasar (which is on the left).

    By Blogger lion3ss, at 10:03 AM  
  • Nak komen.. unfortunately, this time I'm starving more than I can write a comment.

    OK... time for food hunting.

    By Blogger Amiruddin Karim, at 11:16 AM  
  • Memang all true story - from crab claws to murdered ex- beauty queen. This was some years ago (and apologies Pok Ku for digressing)a lecturer was accused of murdering exbeauty queen/lover near one of the estates (is it still there?) In his defense he sd, he stopped the car, went to ease himself and came back, the beauty was dead. However, their love letters told all and we journalists were drooling over those as well!

    By Blogger Kak Teh, at 1:13 PM  
  • Oo I remember that shop, it's called Tong Juan if i not mistaken. A crab a.k.a ketang that called stuff crab or ketam sumbat or ketam bungkus, like tauhu sumbat kot. Nel'leh air liur kita hok dok jauh ni ingat ke ketang bungkus@stuff crab tu. Remind me of few years back lah. Pok ku ni panda sungguh buat orang terlior. Pokku can you get me the recipe for that Tong Juan's stuff crab. I can find so many type of kettang's here, I would rather try to do it on my own . If not mati kempunan kot kat Skotleng ni.
    Keh keh keh, org tua kata.

    By Blogger STRIKER, at 1:17 PM  
  • yummy-nya!!! *drools*
    just had a huge (farewell) lunch but after reading this post, i'm craving for crabs :P

    By Blogger famyGirl, at 4:01 PM  
  • I was just thinking about gulai ketam and now I found this post .. ugghh

    By Blogger Yasmin's Mummy, at 4:30 PM  
  • Ketang ni se agi bende hok wak ggaru. :)

    Btw Pok Ku, the fish-boy at hypermarket told me that, kalau nak pilih ketam yg isi gemok, pilih yang ada telur. (???) How to know ada telur? Look underneath the crab, it has this black thingy. The more black thingy is has, the bigger the flesh. If he kelentong me, I also kelentong you lah. :D

    By Blogger Honeytar, at 4:53 PM  
  • riza:
    More like muggers!

    Blabarella:
    Which one? SS2?

    Beta-blogger:
    Nope, different Wang Adnang.

    Afiq:
    Crap won't do justice to the crabs. My writing maybe.

    Anonymous:
    Pasar holiday still?

    Lucia Lai:
    We had plenty of "belangkas" (king crabs). Nobody eats them.

    Kak Teh:
    I remember that trial. Juicy stuff at the time.

    dusyum:
    Mesti sedap punya.

    lion3ss:
    Aaaah..the roto to absorb the kuah ketam. Yummy!

    Elisa & OneEE:
    Get Kak Teh to write about it in her new blog.

    FG:
    The fresher, the better tasting.

    zaireen:
    Read lion3ss second commment or when you come to the roundabout after the bridge, turn right, follow the road until you see a row of shops in front of a public parking place next to the medan selera. The shop is across that.Don't worry, you cannot get lost in Cukai.

    LollieS:
    You are most welcome.

    AkuTakReti:
    See Honeytar's comment.

    AmirEtecetera:
    Selamat makan.

    Striker:
    There are a few shops selling the same thing but Malaysia Restaurant's crabs are better. I will try to get the recipe.

    famygirl:
    There is always dinner what.

    Yasmin's Mummy:
    Gulai ketam is equally yummy.

    Honeytar:
    Thanks for the tip. Let me know when you have verified it.

    By Blogger Bustaman, at 5:32 PM  
  • applicable for ketam bunga:
    ketam jantan = kaler biru, kat bwh dia ada triangle tirus
    ketam betina = kaler a bit brownish & the part yg mcm triangle tu lebar & selalu ada mcm tah mende attached to it.
    kalau nk yg byk isi, the safest pilih yg jantan & bila pegang rasa solid. secara lazimnya, apa2 haiwan yg sedang bertelur isi dia sikit so bila telur ketam tu byk otomatiklah isi dia kurang

    hmmm..i got one good ketam recipe. sapa nak boleh contact akutakretickpomputeh
    -hellikonia-

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:09 PM  
  • oh~yummy pix again. always a pleasure reading your blog!

    cheers!
    sarah
    http://www.tabulas.com/~shireen

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:39 PM  
  • Thank you Mann. Now i know what Kicap is. Sounds so totally delicious and divine. Now thank you very much I am in the mood for this dish. So ok, send me the recipe to my e-mail or better yet....why don't ya just fix it and send it via DHL. Awwwwww....a girl can dream right? Now I'll be looking up places in the phone book and calling them. Wanting to know if they have something that looks like that picture ya put up. - Jackie -

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:02 AM  
  • Mula-mula baca tajuk, ada 3 mende terlintas di fikiran, the tajuk itself Ketang is Ketam, yg kedua Ketang merujuk ke ubi ketang (kentang) and yg ketiga Musing Ketang..

    -nart-

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:31 AM  
  • Yummy looking crab (crabs?). Just had ketam masak sweet n sour. Simply delish!

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