Chili Crab

- Serves 3
Singapore’s Chili Crab is a must-try for any food lover visiting our city, and now you can enjoy it right at home with our simple, delicious recipe! Known for its sweet, spicy, and tangy sauce, Chili Crab brings together fresh crab with bold Asian flavors for a dish that’s absolutely irresistible. This recipe captures the essence of Singapore’s culinary scene, perfect for impressing friends or family with a taste of our iconic street food. Follow along as we guide you through every step to create this legendary dish—you’ll be licking your fingers and coming back for more!
Ingredients
1 kg live Sri Lankan or mud crabs or flower crabs, cleaned and cut
1/2 teaspoon belacan (shrimp paste)
2 tablespoons Maggi chili sauce
150ml Maggi tomato ketchup
1/2 teaspoon taocheo (fermented bean paste)
1 tablespoon sugar, optional
250ml chicken stock
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1 stalk coriander leaves
1 tablespoon chopped roasted peanuts

Chili Paste
1/2 lemongrass stalk, lower half thinly sliced 
10g garlic
15g fresh ginger
15g shallots
10g or less chili padi
5 pcs candlenuts / buah keras
20g fresh galangal
30ml cooking oil (I use Ayam coconut oil) 

Thickening glaze (optional - add ONLY if you want thicker sauce)
1/2 tablespoon corn starch
2 tablespoons water (mix both corn starch and water well together)​

Recipe
  1. Blend all the ingredients from the chili paste with cooking oil in a heavy blender, then set aside. Add a few tablespoons of water if necessary to get the blender running.
  2. Heat oil in a wok over medium flame; add belacan and toast for 1-2 minutes smashing it down with the back of a wooden spatula. Add chili paste and stir-fry for about 5 minutes until fragrant.
  3. Add chili sauce, taocheo, ketchup, sugar followed by chicken stock and bring to a boil. 
  4. Add the crabs and simmer uncovered, tossing the crabs in the gravy several times, until crabs change color (about 3 minutes). Reduce heat to low-medium, cover and cook for 10 minutes until cooked through.
  5. Add the corn starch mixture to the sauce (if using) and stir until it thickens.
  6. Add the beaten egg mixture and stir gently until soft. Add peanuts, stir. 
  7. Transfer the chili crab and gravy onto a wide dish and garnish with coriander leaves.
  8. Serve hot with fluffy mantou buns or steamed white rice or sliced French loaf.

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Cleaning and Cutting Crab

  1. Always buy the liveliest crabs at the vendor. Ones that are moving and full of life. Chill them as soon as you get home to make them immobile.
  2. Removing the Apron: The "apron" on a crab is a triangle of shell on the bottom of the crab (on males it is smaller, narrower, and more pointed; on females it is bigger, wider, and more rounded). Remove the apron by grabbing the point towards the front of the crab and pulling it off. Insert a sharp knife through the pointy end under the apron to kill the crab instantly. A small amount of liquid oozes out once the crab is dead.
  3. After you've pulled off the apron, you will see a small hole between the body and the top shell, or carapace, at the back of the crab. Hold the body with one hand and pull off the top shell by grabbing the shell where that small hole is. 
  4. Once the top shell is gone, you'll see the crab's insides. Along the top are two rows of opaque, feathery gills. These are not edible. Simply pull them all off and discard them. 
  5. The mandibles, at the front of the crab, need to be removed - simply snap the two pointy things to break them away from the crab and discard them.
  6. The remaining parts of the crab (besides the shell) that you don't want to eat are the guts. In the world of cleaning animals, crab guts are pretty innocuous. Simply rinse them out under cool running water. Brush the shell if necessary to remove traces of sand.
  7. To remove the large claws, simply twist them off the body and pull. Bash the claws gently with a flat cleaver to crack them to expose meat. 
  8. Using a cleaver, chop the body along the center into two halves. Your crab is now ready to use. Use immediately.
For more delicious recipes, check out our upcoming hands-on cooking classes in Downtown Singapore.
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