Malaysian Style Chilli Crabs

This is my first time cooking crabs!

Yup, I finally found the courage to cook crabs after a few years of gathering courage to do so.

I love eating crabs and have always wanted to cook crabs myself, but I was afraid that cleaning the raw crabs would be a very difficult task to do. That was why I had put off the idea of cooking crabs for so many years.

Last week, I finally plucked up the courage and told myself that it is now or never to cook crabs or I’ll never do it. So off I went to order some crabs for dinner.

I was not able to get any of my friends to teach me how to clean the raw crabs, but thanks to You Tube, nothing is impossible! After watching a few You Tube videos on how to clean raw crabs, I finally learnt how to clean the raw crabs. Cleaning the raw crabs are surprisingly easier that what I thought it would be! All you need to do is cut the crabs into portions and clean off the gills and other unwanted bits off the crabs.

Finding the recipe for cooking the crabs was very easy too. I got this recipe from one of my favourite food blogs called www.rasamalaysia.com. I followed the recipe with some minor modifications and found that the sauce was too watery, so I added more cornstarch/corn flour to it. The recipe was good and the end result was absolutely divine.

Here’s the recipe with some of my modifications:

Malaysian Style Chilli Crabs 

Malaysian Style Chilli Crabs

Ingredients: 

4 raw blue swimmer crabs
3 tbsp oil 3 garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, sliced
3 tbsp cornstarch/corn flour (mixed with some water)
1 egg, beaten
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Sour and Spicy Sauce 

5 tbsp tomato sauce
5 tbsp Lingham’s Chilli Sauce
1 heap tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp Chinese Rice Wine
½ tsp white vinegar
1 cup water

Method: 

Refer to You Tube videos to learn how to clean the raw crabs.

Mix the ingredients for the Sour and Spicy Sauce in a bowl. Set aside.

Heat up wok with oil until hot. Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry until slightly browned. Add the crabs and fry for about 10 seconds. Add the Sour and Spicy Sauce and stir the sauce together with the crabs. Cover the wok lid and boil on medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the crab is cooked.

Uncover the wok and add in the cornstarch/corn flour mixture into the sauce. Stir until sauce thickens. Add beaten egg and swirl it around the sauce. Cook for about 30 more seconds and add salt, sugar and more cornstarch mixture if needed.

Serve with rice, steamed buns or fried Chinese buns.


Cheers,

Caroline Poh

Rundle Spices, Adelaide, South Australia

Whenever I am in Adelaide, South Australia, I always look forward to dining at Rundle Spices. Rundle Spices is Chinese/Malaysian/Thai influenced restaurant serving a wide variety of dishes from finger food to main course meals.

The restaurant is situated at Rundle Street, just minutes away from Adelaide’s famous Rundle Mall shopping centre. The restaurant is opened for lunch and for dinner. If you want to get better value for your money, I would recommend you to go there during lunch time as they would have set lunch menus on offer at a fraction of the price as compared to if you were to dine there for dinner.

Although there are many dishes to choose from at Rundle Spices, Adelaide, my husband and I would always order their Thai fried rice and fried spring rolls as those dishes give us the best value for our money. As the Thai fried rice comes in a huge serving portion, we are able to share one plate of fried rice and just order a plate of fried spring rolls for our side dish.

We have been to Rundle Spices, Adelaide, South Australia many times and we were never disappointed. Their food tastes very authentic, their waitresses are very polite and helpful; and they always give us very fast service. The interior of the restaurant is also very pleasant and the chairs there are really comfortable.

Thai Fried Rice

Fried Spring Rolls

I highly recommend you to dine at Rundle Spices, Adelaide, South Australia simply because it is a really nice restaurant with great tasting food and wide variety of dishes to choose from. Try it and you’ll be back for more food from Rundle Spices!

Here is the address of Rundle Spices:

278A Rundle St Adelaide SA 5000
(08) 8232 9288


Cheers,

Caroline Poh

Stir fried Chinese Cockles

After a few years of not eating cockles (also known as clams or pipis), I finally had the opportunity to cook some stir fried Chinese cockles last night. It is very hard for me find fresh cockles for sale in South Australia. Residing in a country town in regional South Australia has made it even harder for me to find these beauties. During my recent trip to Adelaide, I managed to find some fresh cockles for sale at a pretty reasonable price. Immediately, I decided to satisfy my craving and buy some cockles to make some stir fried Chinese cockles.

This stir fried Chinese cockles recipe is modified based on a recipe I found at http://madamkwong.com. I did not measure the ingredients as I made the dish based on my instincts and adjusted the taste while cooking.

Stir Fried Chinese Cockles

Stir Fried Chinese Cockles

Ingredients: 

Approx 500g cockles/clams/pipis
3 canned pineapple rings (cut into cubes)
1 tbsp fermented soy beans, crushed
3 pips of chopped garlic
1-2 tbsp plum sauce
Dash of sweet/hot chilli sauce
1-3 sliced dynamite chillies/thai chillies
Some water and diluted cornstarch for the sauce
Salt and sugar to taste  

Method:

Heat frying pan with some oil. Add in the sliced chillies and chopped garlic. Fry until garlic is slightly golden in colour. Add the plum sauce and chilli sauce. Then add in the canned pineapple. Put some water in the pan. Season sauce with salt and sugar. Then thicken slightly with diluted cornstarch (a mixture of cornstarch and some water). Lastly, throw in the cockles/clams/pipis. Adjust the consistency of the sauce by adding more water, diluted cornstarch, chilli sauce, salt or sugar.

Cook until the cockles/clams/pipis shells are opened. This means they are cooked. Do not overcook as cockles/clams/pipis get cooked very quickly.

There you have – Stir Fried Chinese Cockles.