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