The crab is really a carrier for this drop-dead tasty sauce. This is a real fusion dish: part Chinese, part Indian, part Malaysian. Don’t even think of eating this with cutlery; it would be a crime. All you need is some steamed rice and a finger bowl, and maybe a few napkins. And of course a lager.
Ingredients
- 4 blue swimmer crabs about 1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz)
- 2 tablespoons small dried shrimp from Asian food stores
- 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 4 large garlic cloves finely chopped
- 4 spring onions (scallions) finely chopped
- 8 small red chillies finely chopped
- 24 fresh curry leaves
- 2 fl oz/¼ cup (60 ml) oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 2 oz/¼ cup (55 g) sugar
- 35 fl oz/4 cups (1 litre) vegetable or canola oil for frying
- 2¾ oz (80 g) butter
- steamed basmati rice to serve
How to Make It
- First, prepare the crabs. I find this is best done under cold running water. Working with one crab at a time, hold the front of the crab’s head and pull the top of the head off and discard. You will see the gills, called ‘dead man’s fingers’, which are easily removed under the running water. This will also wash away any of the murky bits, leaving the shell, cartilage and the white meat. Now pull off the crab’s tail and discard. Shake off the excess water and put the crab on a chopping board.
- Cut the crab lengthways down the middle so you have two body parts, each with the same number of legs. Now cut each half crossways between the middle two legs. This will give you four parts to each crab, with each part having two legs.
- Use the back of a cleaver or a rolling pin, or even the bottom of a beer bottle, to crack the larger leg parts in several places. Cracking open the shell allows the cooking flavours to get into the meat. Place all the prepared crab pieces in a large bowl or on a baking tray and store in the fridge until needed.
- Wrap the dried shrimp in foil. Sit the foil parcel in a small frying pan and cook over high heat, shaking the pan every so often, until you can smell the intense aroma of the shrimp cooking. Remove from the pan using tongs, then open the foil and let the shrimp cool. Tip them into a small food processor or spice mill and grind until finely chopped. Tip them into a bowl and add the pepper, salt, garlic, spring onion, chilli and curry leaves.
- Combine the oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Pour the oil into a wok and heat over high heat. The oil is ready when the surface is shimmering. Don’t be tempted to cook all the crab at once — you want it to flash-fry, not stew. Add about one-quarter of the crab pieces and fry for just 2–3 minutes, using metal tongs to turn the crab, until the shells turn pink. Remove to a big bowl or tray. Let the oil reheat after cooking each batch. Repeat with all the crab.
- .Pour off all but a couple of tablespoons of oil from the wok. Add the butter and let it sizzle and melt into the oil. Add the shrimp mixture to the sizzling butter and stir it around for a few seconds until aromatic. Add the crab and cook in the wok for 4–5 minutes, turning the pieces around so they are coated in the peppery aromatics.
- Add the oyster sauce mixture and stir the crab pieces around to coat in the sauce. Cook for just a couple of minutes so everything is heated through. Serve with basmati rice.