About a year ago on our way home from my cousin’s wedding in India we stopped over in Singapore. I tried Singapore chilli crab for the first time and have craved it ever since. Wanting to learn how to make it myself I sent out a tweat to see who wanted to go to the chilli crab cooking class with me at the Sydney Seafood school. Phuoc from Phuoc’n Delicious was quick to respond and we had a ball. This all happened late last year before I had my new Canon but I borrowed my dad’s Canon 500D so I still got some pretty cool pics.
We learnt how to clean the crabs first which was pretty gross but manageable. The demo kitchen was newly renovated and it had TV screens above the bench so you could see up close what the chef was doing. It is very well organised and run.
I’ve only made this once at home since the cooking lesson and it took a few weeks to get my act together too because there was a few strange ingredients I had to buy. This was the perfect excuse to head down to Chinatown for some Yum Cha and shopping to get the Shao Xing (Chinese cooking wine) and belacan, a shrimp paste. So glad I did make this at home though but I doubt I’m going to add it to my regular dinner rotation.
The recipe makes ALOT. Too much for 2 people but we finished it off anyway and were so full. I’m sure you will love it too.
Chilli Crab (Serves 6)
6 green blue swimmer crabs
3 tablespoons peanut oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 small red chillies, chopped
2 teaspoons grated ginger
1 teaspoon belacan, crumbled
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 cup fish stock
160ml tomato ketchup
160ml sweet chilli sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon shao xing (Chinese cooking wine)*
6 green onions, sliced diagnoally
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup coriander leaves, to garnish
*You can substitute dry sherry for the shao xing
Method
Clean crabs and cut into segments. Crack claws.
Heat a large wok over high heat
Add oil, then garlic, chilli, ginger and belacan and stir fry for 30 seconds
Add crabs and stir for 5 minutes, until all shells turn orange.
Dissolve cornflour in little fish stock, then combine with tomato ketchup, chilli sauce, fish sauce, shao xing and remaining fish stock.
Add to wok along with green onions and stir until boiling.
Reduce heat to medium high and cook for a further 8-10 minutes, stirring every minute or so to ensure all of the crab spends time submerged in the sauce.
increase heat and move crab towards one side of the wok, drizzle egg into the sauce in a slow, steady stream, stirring gently to create threads of egg through the sauce. Stir well and remove from heat.
Sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice
