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My mother was a fantastic cook. Coming from a small fishing village in the state of Kedah, she made killer dishes with seafood, especially chili crab.
With this post, I give my utmost tribute and applause to my late mother for her cooking skills and this very special family recipe.
Growing up, I would always look forward to visiting my mother’s hometown; as a matter of fact, I would ask my parents to take me there.
My intentions were not completely pure, I must confess; other than being able to play on the beach and dig siput (a type of clams), my bigger motivation was that she would bring back the freshest, meatiest, and juiciest catch of green mud crabs from my uncle who was a fisherman.
I was always brimming with excitement at the thought of devouring this dish.
Eating home-cooked chili crab was a celebration in my family—the preparation (imagine “capturing” those feisty crabs that “escaped” the nets and roamed freely in the kitchen!), the cooking, and of course, the eating. It was sheer fun; lots of fun.
While this dish is traditionally prepared with green mud crab in Malaysia, I used a 2-lb Dungeness crab.
If you can’t find green mud crab or Dungeness crab in your area, you can always use another crab—stone crab or blue crab. If you are in New York City, call yourself lucky as you can just hop straight to Fatty Crab in the meat packing district and order this dish. Chef Zak Pelaccio’s serves a Malaysian-style chili crab at his restaurant.
Feast your eyes now with my pictures, but I hope you get a chance to try this chili crab recipe. Please take note that this chili crab recipe is not Singaporean-style chili crab which is made with a tomato-based sauce; this is adapted from my family’s chili crab recipe.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 131 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Mom's Chili Crab
Ingredients
- 1 Dungeness crab (about 2 lb. size (1 kg))
- 1 coriander sprig (chopped for garnishing only)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons tamarind juice
- salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1/4 cup water
Spice Paste:
- 8 dried red chilies (soaked in hot water and deseeded)
- 1 tablespoon taucheo (soy bean paste/sauce)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 inch fresh ginger
Tamarind Juice:
- 5 seeds of tamarind
- water
Instructions
- Clean the crab and chop it into pieces. Save the green and juicy stuff inside the shell and set aside.
- 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.
- Soak the tamarind seeds in some warm water for 15 minutes. Extract the juice and discard the seeds.
- Heat up your wok and add cooking oil.
- Stir fry the spice paste until fragant and spicy.
- Add the crab and 1/4 cup of water and do a quick stir. Cover the wok with its cover for 3 minutes.
- Add the green and juicy stuff from the shell and stir well.
- Add in sugar, tamarind juice, a little salt to taste and continue stirring for about 2 minutes or until all crab pieces turned red.
- Dish up, garnish with chopped scallions and serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
DOES THIS USE UNCOOKED OR COOKED CRAB THAT IS ESSENTIALLY REHEATED, I CANNOT I AGINE CHOPPING UP A LIVE CRAB,
Yes, chopping up the live crab, you can ask your seafood place or fish monger to chop for you!
Just cooked some blue crabs with this recipe, chilli crabs the way it’s meant to be. Now where can I find some coconut crabs?
Really looking forward to trying this recipe. I’m now living on the southwest coast of France, so I will have plenty of choices for crab. I’m hoping this recipe is as good as the crab served at a restaurant that was walking distance from the hotel I used in Petaling Jaya when on business trips in Malaysia. They were my first night’s meal every stay in PJ. Still dream of them.
Yum, sure please try, it will be amazing.
Wow!!! Finally a chili crab recipe sans the use of tomato sauce. I’ve never understood the use of the tomato product. It does not come close to the sweet chili crab I remembered eating during my formative years. Thank you for this tried-and-true malaysian dish. Gotta honor the tradition of making this.
Awesome, yes, tomato sauce chili crab is pretty lame.
Bee, One of the pleasures of eating chilli crab is being able to soak up the thick yummy gravy with traditional steamed “mantou” or bread, or simply scoop it over some nice hot steam rice.. To do this, I think one of the key ingredient is an egg, lightly beaten and poured over the crab when it is done, covered it for a minute before serving.. A few more tablespoons of water will be required.. What do you you think?
You can add egg but I don’t like an eggy sauce, it’s a bit too gooey for me. I love it the way it is with my chili crab recipe, as the crab juice from the fresh crab will make the sauce somewhat eggy. :)
Made this tonight, and I have to say, it was amazing. First time ever cooking crab, and I took forever to kill the things and chop them up, but it was worth the effort. I used tamarind concentrate to make the tamarind juice, and it came out just as good.
Wonderful!!
I tried this recipe last sunday and the result was incredible..
Thank you so much ^_^
hi…! ms.rasa malaysia..thanks for sharing this wonderful and delicious recipe,i know my family love this,i love eating and cooking thats why i got this recipe,again thank you ang god bless u..
Awww thanks for your comment
Thank You for this wonder cuisine. I will definitely try this here in the Philippines. I will use locally grown crabs.
Thank you.
Salamat