Chilli (Flower) Crab

There are so many ways to cook crab. Chilli Crab is one of the more popular one, which is also one of Singapore's national dishes. 

My family love chilli crab, except the younger one, who is can't even take a tiny bit of chilli.  However, it's not easy for me to get crabs at my area.  Hence, I have been cooking the same chilli (crab) sauce with other seafood.

The other day, I happened to get 2 big flower crabs but the kids didn't want to eat porridge. So I kept the crabs and cooked it for supper. :P  It's not as tasty as the regular crabs which have firmer meat, but it's good enough for me.   Like what we always say, No fish, prawns also good. ;p

Ingredients:

• 2 Crabs (in my case, flower crabs),  scrubbed clean and remove the gills and internal organs
• 1 teaspoon Apple Cidar or White Vinegar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Salt to taste
• Cornflour Mixture (thickener)
• 3 tablespoon Oil

Spice to grind coarsely:

• 5 Fresh Red Chillies
• 5 Dried Chillies, soaked to soften
• 5 clove Garlic
• 2 tablespoon Dried Shrimp, soaked to soften

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon Cooking Wine
• 5 tablespoon Tomato Sauce
• 2 tablespoon Chilli Sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon Fermented Soya Bean Paste (Tau Cheong)
• 500ml Water or Stock

How to do it:

1. Chop the pincers from the crabs and chop the body into halves and then into 2 parts.
2. Heat wok with oil.
3. Stir fry crabs till they turn red but not completely cooked.
4. In another wok, heat 1 tablespoon oil and stir fry the spices till fragrant.
5. Add in crabs.
6. Stir fry till the crabs till well mixed with spices.
7. Add in the sauce and stir well.
8. Cover and simmer over high heat for 5 minutes or till thoroughly cooked.
9. Add apple cider and salt to taste.
10. Gradually stir in cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce.
11. Add in egg while stirring slowing.
12. Dish and serve immediately.

Note:

1. To kill the crab, turn it over to have the belly up.
2. Lift up the round (for female crabs) or triangle (for male crabs) tab.
3. Stab using a pair of chopsticks or knife.
4. Turn it over and pry off the shell.
5. Remove the internal organs near the eyes/mouth and use a scissor to cut the mouth part off.
6. Remove the gills from the body of the crab.
7. Clean and chop the crab in to smaller pieces.
8. Smash the pincer slightly so it's easier to eat later. 
9. For flower crab, please skip step 1 to 3 as they are usually frozen dead. The shells are a lot softer so you can actually pull then apart using your hands. 
10. You can also use shellfish, like crawfish or prawn to go with the chilli (crab) sauce.