Singapore Pepper Crab

 
Singapore is a big food hub. It has people from across the countries & it showcases a wide varieties of cuisines. There are places to eat from $2 - $100. If you walk in to any Hawker centre (food court) you will get to see a variety of local & Asian cuisine. One of the very famous & expensive dish is Singapore Chili/Pepper Crab. There are many places here that sells the best crab in town. Most people love to dine either at the Seafood beach restaurants, famous ones like Long Beach &Jumbo sea food. If you go around Clar quay or Boat quay, there are a lot of restaurants around the river that serve fresh live sea food too.

The crab dish rates starts from somewhere $50 - $800. Since I make very good crab dishes at home, we never felt the need to eat it out much. Like the chili Crab these Pepper crabs are also very famous. I made this one couple of days ago & I loved these more than the Chili crab. The heat from black peppers are not so intense like the fresh chili's. They were very easy on the tummy & with no after effects:) While researching for recipes, I found one here @My singapore kitchen & I customised it a little bit to suit our tastes buds. If you want to make Pepper Prawns you can follow the same recipe but just skip the boiling process.

Ingredients:

• 4 Big Flower crabs cleaned & cut into half
• 2.5 Tbsp Black pepper corns
• 4 Tbsp Black soya sauce
• 1 Knorr Chicken cube
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 1 Medium onion chopped
• Coriander leaves to garnish
• 1 Tspn sugar
• 2 Tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 4 cups water

Method:

1. In a big pot boil 4 cups of water with 1 tbsp of soya sauce. While the water is boiling add in the crabs into it.
2. Close lid & let it cook for about 5mins.
3. Make a paste of Black pepper, ginger garlic, soya sauce in a blender
4. In a large wok/Pan add in 2 tbsp of butter & fry onions until translucent.
5. Add in the black pepper paste, Knorr chicken cube, sugar lemon juice & saute well until fat separation.
6. Now tip in the crabs to the masala, add in some broth from the pot.
7. Close lid & cook the crabs for another 5 mins. Add more broth if required. (I added around 2 cups of broth)
8. Finally garnish the dish with coriander leaves.

Here is the step by step picture that will help you further understand the process.

Step 1:
Boil water add soya sauce & crab to the boiling water & cook for 5 mins
 

 
Step 2: Make a fine paste with pepper, ginger garlic, remaining soya sauce.

 
Step 3:

1. Add Butter into the pan, fry onions, add the ground paste, chicken cubes, sugar, lemon juice & saute until fat separation.
2. Now tip in the crabs & some broth.Close lid & cook for another 5mins.

 

Singapore Chili Crab

Well I have already posted a Chili crab recipe long long back. However this one is the local Chili Crab recipe. In my previous recipe I had not added eggs. I made these 2 days ago for dinner & it was finger licking good. If you love crabs, this is a must try recipe. originating from Singapore. The recipe was created in 1950 by Singaporean chef, Madam Cher Yam Tian with her husband, Mr Lim Choon Ngee. The couple ran Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant on Upper East Coast Road (near the present day East Coast Seafood Centre.) Mud crabs are commonly used and are stir-fried in a semi-thick, sweet and savoury tomato and chilli based sauce. Chilli Crab can be widely found at Malaysian and Singaporean seafood hawker stalls, kopitiams or restaurants. Despite its name, chili crab is not a very spicy dish. But the one that I have made here is really spicy. So you can play with the chilis & add according to your spice tolerance level. I used the regular flower crabs which are also called as Srilankan crabs .

 

Ingredients:

• 3 medium size crabs (Cleaned)
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil*
• 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 Medium size Onion
• 1 cup chicken Stock (I use the chicken cube)
• 8 fresh red dried chilli soaked in hot water for 5-10 Mins
• 5 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup
• 1 Tbsp Light Soya Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Thick Coconut Cream (You can skip this)
• 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce or 1 Tsp Belchan paste
• 1 Tspn Sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup water
• 2 spring onions (scallions), cut into finger length
• 1 tsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
• 1 small bunch coriander leaves (cilantro)

Method

Grind together chilis & onion until smooth paste. Heat the oil in a wok or shallow saucepan over high heat. Add in garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute. Now add the ground chili paste & fry until fat separation. around 5 to 8 mins. Add in chicken stock all the sauces & bring to boil. Now add the cleaned crab, water close & cook for about 8 mins on low flame.Now add in coconut cream, lemon juice, sugar & mix well. Finally add in an egg stir well & turn off the flame. Garnish this with spring onions.

Singapore Chilli Crab!

In singapore Chilli crab is very famous and very expensive too. Crabs are a little difficult to clean and in the resturants somehow i feel they dont clean the crab that well and sometimes the meat is not cooked well. I learnt the art of cleaning Crab from  my mom and she makes the best traditional mangalorean crab curry. Well here I have made chilli crab curry and its really tasty. BTW use a cloth scrubbing brush or any scruber to clean the crab well before cooking.


Singapore Chilli Crab Recipe:

 Ingredients
Fresh crabs 2 medium size
I Table spoon Olive oil
1 Finely chopped onion
I inch Fresh ginger finely grated
4 cloves Finely chopped garlic
5 to 6 Red chilies boiled (Deseeded) Can use non spicy red chilli powder too
1 cup Water
1/2 cup chicken stock
 1 tbspn Soy sauce
1 tbspn Sweet chili sauce
1 tspn Sugar

Method
•Wash the crabs well and scrub the shell.
•Using a large cleaver, cut the crabs in half and rinse well under cold water, carefully removing the yellow gills or spongy parts.
•Boil the crabs for 8 to 10 minutes in hot water
•Sauté onion, ginger, garlic, boiled chili paste in a pan with 1 Tspn of oil till it turns light brown and grind it into a fine paste.
•In a wok/ Kadai heat 1 Table spoon of oil and add the above ground masala, chicken stock, crab stock and fry it till fat separation. Add pinch of Turmeric powder, soya Sauce, Sugar, Tomato sauce, salt as per taste.
•Return the crab to the wok and simmer, turning carefully in the sauce for 10 minutes or until the crab meat turns white.
•Do not overcook.
•Serve with steamed rice.