Chilli Crab
"Got this out of the paper advertising a crab festival in 1996. My neighbor loves this for the sauce (hubby gets the crabs), she likes to use it with chicken, fish or beef (dices the meat and simmers in the sauce till cooked and serves over rice with vegetables). I serve it with rice to pour the sauce over and some vegetables to make a complete meal."
photo by JustJanS
- Ready In:
- 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Serves:
-
4-6
ingredients
- 1 kg crab (raw, we use 6 blue manna)
- 1⁄2 - 1 tablespoon gingerroot (sliced)
- 3 -4 chilies (we use birds eye)
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 -2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3⁄4 cup water (or chicken or fish stock)
- 4 tablespoons tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon chili sauce (hot) (optional)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 -2 spring onion (scallions sliced)
directions
- If crabs live, put in freezer for 10 minutes to stun.
- Remove back shell and clean spongy bits and brown stuff, clean in water.
- Cut in half lengthwise.
- Remove claws from body and hit with blunt side of a cleaver to crack in several places.
- Cut the halves into two or three pieces leaving legs attached.
- Pound ginger and chili until they form a paste, or zap in the food processor or blender.
- Mix soy sauce, sugar, water (or stock), tomato sauce and chili sauce (if using) in a small jug.
- Put oil in a large hot pan or wok and over a medium heat fry ginger/chili mix for a few minutes.
- Add the crab pieces and stir fry at a higher heat till crab pieces turn red.
- Add liquid mixture and bring back up to the boil, add sesame oil, lower heat to medium and cover with lid for a few minutes giving the occasional stir.
- Garnish with sliced spring onion.
- Don't forget the finger bowls and a bowl in the middle for the shells and lots of paper serviettes/napkins.
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Reviews
-
Awesome! Cooked up 3 blue swimmer crabs (Australia), and my wife, whose never really liked crabs was raving about them. Used chicken stock and thai palm sugar and didn't think it needed any extra chili sauce. This was surprisingly easy to make. I used a proper carbon steel wok and they turned out great. The meat was so tender they were actually pretty easy to eat too! Of course, they were still quite messy - but that's half the fun. -
We caught 15 crabs yesterday, so I saved the 4 biggest for this. Not sure what they weighed but I just made them and the whole sauce recipe for the two of us. This was so deliciously messy and both Russ and I loved it. I added a couple of cloves of garlic in with the chilli and ginger and reduced the oil to two tablespoons but otherwise stuck to the recipe. I used 3 chillies and 2 teaspoons of a chilli sauce I made the other day. The crabs are really running right now, so I'm sure we'll eat this again in the next few weeks! -
We made this while we were away in Cairns. I used to large mud crabs (crab in photo I posted) and apologised to them before and after I put them into the freezer. I put them into the freezer for 30 minutes just to make sure. The sauce was so easy to put together and the fresh crabs melted into our mouths. Hubby is not a very finger foods person but he got into it and said he likes the sauce. Little Miss (DD) liked the crab. I enjoyed everything about this recipe. Thanks I'mPat for another great recipe. -
really nice sauce. I'm a bit of a duffer in the kitchen but even I managed this one! I didn't actually use crab though which you might say is a fairly fundamental part of the recipe! We had it with clams on spaghetti and spinach. There was just enough sauce to get a decent steam on and enourage those little fellas to open up and the flavour was fab - thanks!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I'mPat
Australia
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