This is my take on the famous singapore crab dish - spicy, sweet and a little sour too. The traditional recipe calls for raw whole crabs but as these aren't always available, I have used crab claws (you can buy these frozen now in most supermarkets).
In this dish you need to use a chilli paste or sauce. I used my own Nam Prik Pow - a thai condiment that is not traditionally used in Singapore Chilli Crab, but I love its smokiness and depth of flavour.
You can of course though swap nam prik pao for a different chilli sauce - personally I wouldn't use a sweet chilli sauce as there is already plenty of sweetness from the other ingredients. For me, the more fiery, the better the dish!
The key to making this is to prepare all the elements before you start cooking. You could do this a few hours in advance which makes it a great dish for entertaining as the actual cooking is really quick.
vegetable oil (for frying)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
1 sprig of thai basil
500 - 1 kilo crab claws (cracked open so the sauce will get into the meat and flavour it)
For the sauce mix - in a bowl, mix together...
2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce (kechap manis)
2 tablespoons nam prik pow (or hot chilli sauce of your choice)
1 tablespoon black bean paste or sauce
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
1 tablespoon palm sugar or brown sugar
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
For the garnish...
2 spring onions sliced
1 long fresh red chilli finely sliced (remove the seeds if you want to reduce the heat)
1 inch piece of ginger finely diced
Handful of thai basil leaves
Handful of fresh corriander leaves
In a large wok heat some vegetable oil and fry off the garlic and ginger until golden. Then pour in the sauce mix and the sprig of thai basil and stir over a high heat. You want the sauce to thicken (you could use a little slaked cornflour to do this but I don't think it's necessary). This should take around ten minutes. If the sauce gets too thick just add a little water to thin it down.
Tip in your crab claws and toss for a couple of minutes so the sauce coats the claws and gets into the meat. Add the garnishes to the wok and give it a final toss.
This is a messy and fun dish to eat so make sure you have lots of kitchen roll or paper napkins to hand. I serve this with plain boiled rice - delicious.
Enjoy!
Angela x
