← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean

Ingredients

• 2 live mud crabs (about 1.5 kg in total)
• 4 Red chilli, roughly chopped
• 6 Dried chillies, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes, drained
• 4 Shallot, peeled
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 4 cm piece Ginger
• 1 tsp belacan (shrimp paste), toasted
• 4 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp Fermented soybean paste (taucu / tau cheo), mashed
• 5 tbsp Ketchup
• 4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• ½ tsp Salt
• 400 ml chicken stock or water
• 1 tbsp Cornflour (cornstarch), mixed with 3 tbsp water
• 2 Eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 handful Coriander (cilantro)
• 2 Spring onion, sliced
• 8 mantou buns, deep-fried until golden (or crusty bread)

Method

1. Put the live crabs in the freezer for 30 min so they become sleepy, then dispatch each one quickly by driving a sharp knife or skewer into the underside behind the eyes. Pull off the top shell, scrape out the feathery gills and rinse. Chop each body into quarters and crack the claws with the back of a heavy knife.
2. Blend the paste ingredients with a splash of water until fairly smooth.
3. Heat the oil in a large wok over medium heat and fry the paste for 5–6 min, stirring, until fragrant and deep red. Stir in the taucu for 30 seconds.
4. Add the ketchup, chilli sauce, sugar, salt and stock and bring to the boil. Add the crab, toss well, cover and cook over medium-high heat for 8–10 min, turning halfway, until the shells are bright orange-red and the meat is opaque.
5. Stir in the cornflour mixture and bubble for 1 minute until the sauce thickens. Turn the heat to low, pour in the beaten eggs in a thin stream and leave for a few seconds before gently folding them into silky ribbons.
6. Taste for sweetness and salt, then pile onto a platter, scatter with coriander and spring onion and serve with the fried mantou for dunking.

Tips

• Buy crabs live and cook them the same day; blue swimmer or Dungeness crabs also work. This dish contains shellfish, egg and soy.
• Frozen mantou fry in about 2–3 minutes in hot oil and are well worth it; rice works too.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

RecipeTin Eats Nomadette What To Cook Today