Chinese Food (Chilli Crab)
Chili crab is a seafood dish originating from Singapore. It was created in 1950 by Singapore chef, Cher Yam Tian with her husband, 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. It can be widely found at Malaysian and Singaporean seafood hawker stalls, kopi tiams or restaurants. Despite its name, chili crab is not a very spicy dish.
Ingredients
Crab
Although mud crabs are commonly used, other varieties of crab that have been used include:
- Flower crab / Blue swimmer crab
- Soft-shell crab
Sauce
Chilli crab sauce is usually semi-thick, sweet and savoury although there are some that are served watery. The base of the chilli crab sauce is usually chilli sauce and tomato sauce. It is thickened with a thickening flour. Flavoured with garlic, rice vinegar, soya sauce and etc. Beaten chicken eggs are added near the end of the cooking process to create egg-ribbons in the sauce.
Bread
Chilli crabs are commonly served with breads for mopping up the sauce:
- Steamed or fried mantou (Chinese buns)
- French loaves
- Toasted sliced bread
Plain white rice may be eaten with chilli crabs too.
Basic method
The crabs are lightly fried or steamed first with ginger, before being stir-fried in a chilli sauce made mostly with chilli paste, ketchup, and chicken eggs. The shells are usually partially cracked before cooking for ease of eating later. It is commonly garnished with coriander leaves (cilantro).
