Make this world’s popular Singapore chili crab from scratch with this easy step-by-step and video recipe served with fried mantou buns.
Among many delicious foods one should eat or try when they visit Singapore, chili crab has to be on that to-eat or to-try list. I mean..chili crab is very Singaporean 🙂 and I love Singapore chili crab! Sadly, the last time I had Singapore chili crab was more than 8 year ago! ouchh!!! That was in Mellben seafood in Ang Mo Kio. It was a long queue I remember but it was worth waiting! So delicious!
I’m due for a visit very soon don’t you think? How I’m missing the hawker center food too!
My mom got me some ready-made chili crab sauce too whenever she visited me. They were good, but I thought, you know..it’s time to roll up those sleeves and get messy! Well, the eating part is messy, but the cooking part isn’t that messy 🙂
TYPE OF CRABS TO USE
Mud crabs are usually used in Singapore chili crab recipe. I can’t get a hold of mud crabs here. I can only get dungeness crabs, blue shell crabs, or king crabs. I decided to go with dungeness crabs. Live seafood choices, especially crabs, are super limited here, at least where I am. I couldn’t get hold of live ones, and had to get a preblanched dungeness crabs from Costco. If you live in Asia or anywhere where live seafood is abundant, you won’t have this problem then 🙂
HOW TO KILL LIVE CRABS
If you use live crabs, here’s what you can do:
1. Put the live crabs in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. This will put them into “sleeping” mode. I don’t want to cut them or submerge them in boiling water when they are still “awake” 🙁
2. Then remove from the freezer and put them on the chopping board, remove the shell. You can keep the shell for presentation too
3. Then cut them into half and remove the gills, lungs, and other organs
4. Cut them into smaller pieces ready for cooking
HOW TO COOK SINGAPORE CHILI CRAB WITH FRIED MANTOU
1. FRIED SOME MANTOU
Preheat about 1 inch of oil and fried some steamed mantou until lightly golden brown. Turning it over as it fries so it browns evenly
2. PREPARE THE CHILI PASTE
Put all ingredients for chili paste in a food processor and process into a paste
3. PREPARE THE SAUCE
Mix ketchup, sugar, salt, and taucheo in a bowl and stir to mix. Set aside
4. COOK
Preheat a large wok or Dutch oven. Add cooking oil and stir fry the chili paste you made earlier until fragrant, about 2 minutes or so
Add belacan and lemongrass and stir fry another minute
Add the sauce you prepared earlier and cook for about 30 seconds or so
Add chicken stock and bring it to a boil
Add the crab pieces and cover to let it cook for about 5 minutes or until they turn bright red and almost cooked. Since mine is already pre-blanched, I just basically heating it up for a minute or two
Uncover the lid and add the beaten eggs and stir to mix. Have a taste and adjust to your taste
Stir in the cornstarch mixture and continue to stir until the mixture is thickened
5. SERVE
Transfer to a serving platter. Garnish with some chopped green onion and fresh cilantro leaves and serve with fried mantou on the side
USE THE SAUCE FOR OTHER SEAFOOD
This homemade chili sauce is not only good for crabs, but it is great with shrimp, lobster, crawfish/crayfish, or fish. I would say any seafood will be great!
DID YOU MAKE THIS SINGAPORE CHILI CRAB WITH FRIED MANTOU RECIPE?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
Singapore Chili Crab with Fried Mantou (Homemade Sauce)
Ingredients
- 2 large mud crabs (about 500-800 gr each) or dungeness crabs
- 3 Tbsp cooking oil
- 2 cups chicken stock
Aromatics:
- 1 Tbsp belacan
- 1 stalk lemongrass bruised
Chili paste:
- 1 small onion
- 10 cloves garlic finely minced
- 20 gr galangal or use 1 Tbsp galangal powder
- 10 dried chili soak in warm water. I use 4 Tbsp of chili boh
Sauce:
- 5 Tbsp ketchup
- 3 Tbsp sugar or more as needed
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp tau cheo
- 1 large egg beaten
Garnishes:
- 1 stalk green onion sliced at angle
- Fresh cilantro leaves
To thicken the sauce:
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp water
Serve with:
- mantou homemade or storebought
Instructions
Fried some mantou:
- You can use store-bought mantou and steam them according to instructions. You can also use homemade mantou. Preheat about 1 inch of oil and fried some steamed mantou until lightly golden brown. Turning it over as it fries so it browns evenly
Prepare chili paste:
- Put all ingredients for chili paste in a food processor and process into a paste.
Prepare sauce:
- Mix ketchup, sugar, salt, and taucheo in a bowl and stir to mix. Set aside
Cook:
- Preheat a large wok or Dutch oven. Add cooking oil and stir fry the chili paste you made earlier until fragrant, about 2 minutes or so. Add belacan and lemongrass and stir fry another minute. Add the sauce you prepared earlier and cook for about 30 seconds or so. Add chicken stock and bring it to a boil
- Add the crab pieces and cover to let it cook for about 5 minutes or until they turn bright red and almost cooked. Since mine is already pre-blanched, I just basically heating it up for a minute or two. Uncover the lid and add the beaten eggs and stir to mix. Have a taste and adjust to your taste. It should be spicy, sweet, savory, with a hint of sour
- Stir in the cornstarch mixture and continue to stir until the mixture is thickened.
Serve:
- Transfer to a serving platter. Garnish with some chopped green onion and fresh cilantro leaves and serve with fried mantou on the side
2 comments
Just so you know 500 gm is NOT a large Mud Crab. Many place now the minimum size is 400 grams. The most popular size in Asia is over 800 grams preferably over 800.
Hi Larry, thank you for the info. I should say 500-800 grams of Mud Crab 🙂 I know some can be even bigger than that.