Damien’s Chilli Crab

This is a Singapore-style chilli crab, served at hawker stalls, and is a favourite among locals.

Ingredients

• 2 live medium sized crabs (about 2 kg)
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoon tomato ketchup
• 2 tablespoon tamarind, mashed with 4 tablespoon water
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• small handful coriander, chopped
• small handful chives, chopped

Grind to a paste

• 1 onion
• 3 bird’s eye chillies
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2” ginger
• 2 tablespoon fermented soybean paste

Instructions

Preparing the tamarind

1. Soak the pulp in the water for about 15 minutes.
2. After soaking, give it all good mix and squeeze the pulp with your fingers, then strain through a medium or large mesh sieve. Discard the seeds and pulp.

Cooking the dish

1. Clean and chop crabs.
2. Heat oil in a large wok and fry the paste ingredients until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes, water, ketchup, tamarind and then crabs. Stir the wok. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes until the crabs are done.
4. Taste. Add more salt if needed. Add some sugar if the sauce is too spicy
5. Add the egg and gently mix it in for 20 seconds, and turn the heat off and take the wok off the heat.
6. Garnish with the herbs and serve with rice.

Enjoy!

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