Chilli crab

Ingredients

• Mud crab — cleaned and jointed1.5 kg
• Tomato ketchup150 ml
• Sambal paste3 tbsp
• Fresh red chillies4
• Garlic8 clove
• Ginger40 g
• Eggs2
• Sugar2 tbsp
• Rice vinegar2 tbsp
• Chicken stock300 ml
• Cornflour2 tbsp
• Mantou buns8
• Vegetable oil80 ml
• Coriander20 g
• Saltto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Joint the crab: lift the shell, cut the body into four and crack the claws with the back of a knife.

   20 min

2. 2

   Pound the garlic, ginger and chillies to a paste and fry it in oil for three minutes, until fragrant.

   8 min

3. 3

   Add the sambal, ketchup, sugar and vinegar and cook two minutes, until the sauce darkens.

   4 min

4. 4

   Pour in the stock, bring it up and add the crab pieces. Cover and cook eight minutes.

   10 min

5. 5

   Slake the cornflour in cold water and stir it in to thicken the sauce.

   4 min

6. 6

   Turn off the heat and pour in the beaten eggs in a thin stream, stirring once in a circle.

   3 min

7. 7

   Scatter with coriander and serve with the fried mantou.

   6 min

About the dish

The sauce matters more than the crab, and it is made in quantity. That is exactly why mantou — fried buns — come with it, to mop up every last spoonful.

The egg goes in at the end, in a thin stream with the heat off. It should set into threads rather than lumps, and that is what makes the sauce velvety.

The dish is less fiery than its name promises: the chilli is balanced by tomato and sugar. The heat is adjusted with sambal added to taste.

Worth knowing

• — Buy the crab live and joint it before cooking. Frozen crab gives watery meat and dilutes the sauce.
• — Put the shell into the pot along with the pieces: it gives the sauce its colour and flavour.
• — It is eaten with the hands, and that is expected: napkins and a finger bowl are part of the setting in any Singapore restaurant.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

620 kcal

Protein

40 g

Fat

28 g

Carbs

48 g

More from Singapore

• Hainanese chicken rice — A whole chicken poached below boiling and rice cooked in its broth, with three sauces.