Chilli Crab
Singapore's signature crab dish, with a real, documented origin: Cher Yam Tian and her husband Lim Choon Ngee began selling stir-fried crab from a pushcart in 1956, switching from bottled tomato sauce to chilli sauce when they ran out, a dish that became the signature of Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant when it opened in 1963. A real technique marker often replaced by a ketchup-heavy shortcut is building the sauce from fermented chilli bean paste (taucheo) and fresh chilli, with beaten egg stirred in at the very end for silky ribbons, always served with fried mantou for sauce-dipping.
Seafood
⚠ Contains: Shellfish, Egg, Soy, Gluten. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
Ingredients
- 1 whole mud crab or Sri Lankan crab, cleaned and cracked
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp red chilli paste
- 1 tbsp fermented soybean paste (taucheo)
- 3 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tbsp cornstarch, slurried
- Spring onion, to garnish
- Fried mantou (buns), to serve
Steps
- Stir-fry the ginger, garlic, chilli paste, and taucheo until fragrant.
- Add the crab and toss to coat.
- Add water, ketchup, and sugar, cover, and simmer 8-10 minutes until the crab is cooked.
- Thicken with the cornstarch slurry, then swirl in the beaten egg to form ribbons.
- Garnish with spring onion and serve with fried mantou.