Chili Crabs

Ingredients:

• 3 – 4 Fresh Blue Crabs / Sand Crabs / Mud Crabs (approx. 300 grams each)
• 2 cups of water
• 10 tbsp tomato sauce (ketchup)
• 3 tbsp white sugar (or more, if wanting more sweetness in sauce)
• 3 tsp cornflour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 8 cloves of chopped fresh garlic
• 4 pieces of chopped fresh red chilli (I used Thai-style chillis but other types of red chilli might also work)
• 5 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp garlic and herb salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 spring onions, chopped in to small pieces
• 2 tsps fresh lime juice (or lemon or cumquat juice)
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

How to Cook:
1. Mix the sauce ingredients together first in a big bowl. Just put together water, tomato sauce, cornflour, sugar, and salt and mix them using a fork until they’re dissolved.

2. Heat the saucepan or wok and add the vegetable oil.

3. Sauté the chopped garlic until light brown (takes just a few seconds to a minute in a hot pan).

4. Add the chopped red chilli and sauté quickly until you can smell the spice.

5. Mix in the fresh crabs and fry them together until the crabs turn red (orange-y colour). The length of this will vary on the number of crabs being cooked at the same time – and their sizes.

6. Once the crabs are red, slowly add the sauce mixture in. Mix in the oyster sauce and the garlic and herb salt. Stir and let simmer for about 10 – 15 minutes. Again, this will depend on the crab sizes and number. You’ll know when the crabs are cooked by the crab shell’s colour (turning orange).

7. While still simmering, add the eggs in. And, break the eggs using your wooden spoon or fork. Make sure you do this quickly, so that the eggs won’t get lumpy.

8. Then, add the freshly squeezed lime juice, spring onions and some fresh coriander. Stir.

9. Once cooked, put the crabs in a big serving dish and drizzle the sauce on top. Then, sprinkle the rest of the chopped fresh coriander.