Singapore Chilli Crab

Singapore Chilli Crab: Step by Step

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1. Clean the crabs: lift off the top shell, remove the gills and stomach sac, and cut each body into quarters. Crack the claws with the back of a heavy knife so the sauce can get in.

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2. Blitz all the rempah ingredients to a coarse paste with a splash of water.

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3. Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat and fry the rempah for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until it darkens and the oil separates and pools at the edges. That separation is the signal.

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4. Add the ketchup, chilli sauce, soybean paste and sugar and fry 2 minutes more.

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5. Pour in the vinegar and the stock and bring to a boil.

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6. Add the crab pieces, turn to coat, cover and cook 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until the shells are bright orange and the meat is opaque.

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7. Lift the crab onto a warm platter. Stir the slaked cornflour into the sauce and simmer 1 minute until glossy.

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8. Take the wok off the heat and wait 15 seconds so the sauce stops boiling. Pour the beaten egg in a thin stream while stirring slowly in one direction — it will set into soft ribbons.

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9. Pour the sauce over the crab, scatter with spring onions and coriander, and serve with the buns and a great many napkins.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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What Can Go Wrong

1. Fry the rempah until the oil splits out. Under-fried paste tastes raw and no amount of simmering fixes it.
2. Egg off the heat, stirred slowly. Fast stirring in a boiling sauce gives you scrambled egg soup.
3. Ask the fishmonger to clean and quarter the crabs if you would rather not.

Ingredient Swaps

• Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
• Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the red chillies. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
• If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.

A Little Background

The sauce is the dish and the crab is the vehicle, which is why there is so much of it. It is built on a rempah — a pounded aromatic paste fried until the oil separates out, the point at which the raw edge is gone and the flavours have fused. The egg goes in last, off a rolling boil and stirred in a slow circle, so it sets in soft ribbons rather than scrambling; poured into a boiling sauce it would seize into lumps in seconds.

To Go With It

Fried mantou buns · Cold Tiger beer · Steamed rice

Keeping Singapore Chilli Crab

Best immediately. Refrigerated for 1 day; reheat gently, though the crab toughens.

Questions People Ask

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: where a line offers a choice of foods, only one of them is counted; part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. How the figures are worked out.

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