Chili Crab Craving...

If you're on my Facebook friends list, then you'll know that I have been craving for chili crabs for quite some time. Yesterday was a free day (no cake orders and no car pool), so I decided to cook the chili crabs myself.

Nothing beats a homemade meal especially when it's cooked with love and fresh crabs that were just wriggling out of the tank just a mere hour before that. The taste? Totally outta this world! Here's the recipe if you crave for chili crabs like I did... Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 flower crabs, cleaned and cut into half
1 sprig of coriander (chopped for garnishing only) - I didn't have any so I made do without it
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of tamarind juice
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
1/4 cup of water

Spice Paste:

8 dried red chilies (soaked in hot water and deseeded)
1 tablespoon of taucheo (fermented yellow bean sauce)
3 cloves of garlic
1 inch of fresh ginger
2 inches of lemon grass (the white part only)

Tamarind Juice:

5 seeds of tamarind
Water

Method:

1. Clean the crab and chop it into pieces. Save the green and juicy stuff inside the shell and set aside.
2. Pound the spice paste with a mortar and pestle or grind them using a food processor. Make sure that the spice paste is finely blended or pounded.
3. Soak the tamarind seeds in some warm water for 15 minutes. Extract the juice and discard the seeds.
4. Heat up your wok and add cooking oil.
5. Stir fry the spice paste until fragant and spicy.
6. Add the crab and 1/4 cup of water and do a quick stir. Cover the wok with its cover for 3 minutes.
7. Add the green and juicy stuff from the shell and stir well.
8. Add in sugar, tamarind juice, a little salt to taste and continue stirring for about 2 minutes or until all crab pieces turned red.
9. Dish up, garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot.