Chili Crab. Preparation and Recipe.

Hi Pals,

Jie jie wants me to dedicate this post to Faya's Veronique and Sunshade's and Jaffaman's Mummy. Jie jie found out that they loves Singapore/ Asian food. Thus, we have sent them some ready to cook meal kit but if the crab is not cleaned correctly, it might affect the taste of the dish.

Below is the step by step guide to how to clean the crabs.

Step 1:

Handling live crabs might be dangerous its advisable to put them in the freezer for 2-3 hours, long enough to knock out the crabs but not freeze them.


Step 2:

Use a small brush to thoroughly brush and wash the whole of the crab shell. Then flip it over , you see the pointed part in the centre of the crab's body, (To know how to differentiate the gender of the crab, click here)


Step 3 :

Remove the centre part of the crab.


Step 4

Pull open the shell.


This is what it look like after the shell is pulled open.
Step 5: Cleaning the crab's top shell.

This is how the top shell look like.

Use your finger to break the centre part as shown in the picture.
Remove the part that you break earlier, it should be attached with something that looks like a little bag. This part MUST be removed as it contain the waste of the crabs and will give the crab a funny taste if its not removed.
This is how the shell cover look like after its treated. DO NOT remove the yellow part. That is the tasty part of the crab.Step 6

Then we proceed to the body of the crab. Remove the gills that is on both side of the crab's body and any prickly part on the crab that you can feel at the part where the mouth is


This is how the crab look like after its being cleaned and all unwanted parts removed.
Step 7

To make eating of the crab easier,cut the body of the crab into half.

Step 8

Crack the claw of the crab by knocking it with the back of the knife or an heavy object. (DO Not smash it. ) Remove all the tiny part of the shell from the cracked sell.

You can omit this part if you want. You just have to prepare a nut cracker to crack the claw when eating. It will be more messy as this increases the chance of the gravy to splatter all around.



This is the crabs after cleaning. I usually marinate it with some pepper and store in the fridge if they are not going to be cooked immediately.

Cooking the crabs.

Click here for the recipe. We are using a different recipe but we will be using similar ingredients as this recipe if we are preparing the spices ourselves but we usually use normal chili (instead of the bird eye chili), shallots (instead of the medium onion) and we will also add about 4 -5 eggs. We usually put all the Spices ingredients as listed on the recipe (less the crabs, water and and ketchup), into the blender instead of having to chop or pound them for convenient.

For this demonstration, we uses some spicy Portuguese steam fish mix and add in extra chopped ginger and garlic to let it have a stronger taste.

Step 1 :

Heat oil, stir fry chopped garlic and ginger till fragrant.

Step 2 :

Add in the blended Chili and spice mix. (in this case is the Portuguese Steamed Fish mix) Stir fry still fragrant.

If you are using self blended ingredient, please ensure that the spices are thoroughly fried. You will know that its ready when the spices turn darker (not burnt) and there will be a layer of oil on the spices.

Step 3:

Add in the crabs and ketchup. Continue to stir fry till the colour of the crabs begin to turn orange. Add in the Water. Let it cooked for about 20mins on medium fire. Remember to stir fry after every 5 minutes so that all the crabs will be cooked thoroughly.

Step 4:

When all the crabs has turn red in colour, (add in slightly more water if you want more gravy) you can add in the seasoning (salt, MSG and sugar) This dish taste slightly spicy and slightly sweet. When you are satisfied with the taste, dissolve the corn starch into some plain water and add the corn starch mixture into the crab. Until the gravy thickens, add in the beaten eggs. Cook till the eggs and crab are thoroughly cooked.

To know if the crabs are cooked, check the colour of the crabs to ensure that all parts has turned bright orange in colour. Then the dish is ready.

The end product:

This is how the chili crab dish looks like after its cooked.We usually eat this dish with rice or steamed or deep fried man tou. You can try it with Frech loaf too.

This is a very famous dish in Singapore. I hope you will all like it.

Luv,
Snowball