Chilli Crab

So you have been enjoying your crabs steamed and served with some butter-based dipping or simply with a squeeze of lemon over them. Yes, they are tasty and satisfy your crabby craving but why not try something different for a change? It doesn't take much longer to prepare this dish than to steam your crabs.

Chilli crab is a Singapore signature dish. Albeit the name, it's not very spicy, well it's not served very spicy in Singapore but I'm sure you can add more heat to your own version if you want to. I lived in Singapore for almost 5 years but during that entire time, I could never afford to eat chilli crab. Only later on when I went back for visits that I get to enjoy this specialty. Recently, my friends who are still living in Singapore posted photos of them enjoying this dish and all of a sudden, the craving resurfaced! I'm going to be back there in less than 2 months but I just can't wait that long. Also, this is my last free weekend before I start teaching again. Yes, I know, my break is too short!!! Anyway, I decided I will spoil myself rotten this whole entire weekend ;) 

So here is the story. I went to Chinatown to get grocery. I was debating between frozen crabs and live ones. (The cost difference was huge, hence the hesitation.) What if I fail in my attempt to make the sauce? Then a live crab would be a waste. But then what if the sauce turns out amazing? Well, after about 5 minutes of my angelic side battling my evil side, the evil one won and I got myself a live crab. This is my first time dealing with live anything so you can guess my nervousness. I was hoping that somehow the half-hour trip back would kill the crab so I don't have to deal with it later on. 

The first thing I did once I got home was putting the crab, in the original packaging that the man at the store put it in, into my refrigerator. Hours later and it was time to get dinner ready. I took the bag out, carefully removing the staples at the top and alas! The crab is still alive!!! Turned out the hardest part of tonight's dinner was the actual killing of the crab. I will spare you the horrific details but let me just say that I felt like a psychopathic murderer afterwards. The feeling didn't last long though! By the time I was done cooking, I had forgotten about the "ordeal" I went through, that is until now when I sit here recalling the whole process. So here is what I managed to produce at the end:

For those of you who are not familiar with the dish, Singapore chilli crab is traditionally served with fried mantous, a kind of plain Chinese buns, pictured on the top right. But I think if you can't lay hands on those little things, sliced baguette or crispy Italian bread would make a fine replacement. Chilli crab in Singapore tends to lean a little bit over to the sweet side even though it's a savory dish. I didn't put nearly as much sugar and I'm not claiming that this is authentic but here is a recipe if you want to try:

INGREDIENTS:

For the crab:
1 large crab, ~2 lbs
4-5 plum tomatoes
1 Tsp tamarind concentrate
1/2 Tsp ketchup
1.5 Tsp sugar
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 inch ginger, finely chopped
1-2 Thai chillis, seeded and finely chopped (keep the seeds if you want more heat)
1 Tsp soy sauce paste
1 tsp oyster sauce
Chicken stock (I eventually used half a 14oz can, i.e. ~7oz)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black/white pepper
1/2 a beaten egg (optional)
Cilantro to garnish
1 Tsp oil

For the mantous:
Frozen mantous, completely thawed (or make your own but I don't have a recipe on hand)
Oil to fry


METHOD:

Clean the crab carefully, keep the carapace to decorate later. Remove all the inedible parts. Cut the crab into 4, smash the large claws slightly.

Boil the tomatoes, remove the skin and seeds, give them a rough chop and transfer them to a blender. Add the sugar and some chicken stock to blend until smooth.

In a medium/large sauce pan (a wok would be ideal), heat the oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook till translucent. Add ginger and stir till fragrant. Add garlic and chilli and fry for about 30 seconds. Transfer the tomato sauce to the pan, add more chicken stock if the sauce is too thick. Add soy sauce paste, oyster sauce, ketchup and give it a quick stir. Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture partner for a while. (I think people usually use the word "marry" but as of now, there are still a reasonable percentage of the US population and the world at large who are still fighting for the right to marry so I decided to use the word "partner" instead.) Taste the sauce, if it's not salty enough, don't worry, the crab will add some saltiness to the sauce later.

Add the crab pieces and let them cook till done. The juice from the crab will thicken the sauce so there is no need for thickening agents. Remove the crab pieces and arrange on a deep dish. Check the sauce to see if it's to your taste. If it's too thick, add water or chicken stock. Make sure you have enough sauce to dunk the mantous/bread slices later. Still keeping the sauce on low heat, add half of a beaten egg slowly while stirring. This creates another dimension to the visual effect. Skip it if you don't like.

Pour the sauce over the crab pieces, garnish with cilantro leaves.

For the mantous, give them a quick steam before you fry them to golden.

Serve the chilli crab with the mantous. The mantous, soaked with the sauce, are simply so yummy I wish I could send them to you via the world wide web. I have friends who swear they don't need the crabs, all they need are the sauce and the crisp fried mantous. But maybe they are pulling my legs, who knows!

So what are you waiting for??? Go put your bib on, roll your sleeves up and dig in!!!!

*If you want your sauce to have a brighter red color, season it with salt instead of soy sauce paste and oyster sauce.