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Stuffed Crab (Poo Cha)
Stuffed crab or poo cha is a delicious crab dish where the crab shell is stuffed with the filling of crab and ground pork. Stuffed crab poo cha is great!
Ingredients:
6-8 blue crab shells
Fillings:
8 oz ground pork
4 oz crab meat
2 oz peeled shrimp, minced
1 egg
3 shallots, minced
6 coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
3 heavy dashes ground black pepper
Coating:
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Method:
sticky.
Stuff the Filling into the empty crab shells using a spoon. Smooth out the surface with the back of the
spoon. Steam the stuffed crab for 5 minutes. Discard the water that seeps out.
Cool the stuffed crab to room temperature after steaming. Heat up a wok with some oil. When the oil is
heated, dip each crab shell into the beaten eggs.
Make sure the filling is well coated with the beaten eggs. Transfer the stuffed crabs into the wok and fry
them. As soon as the surface turns light to golden brown, dish out and serve immediately.
When I was growing up in Malaysia, my favorite times were the many festivities that we observed. With every
festivity, my late grandmother would prepare lots of food.
Sometimes her younger brother’s wife—my grand aunt—would come and cook together, then exchange or share the dishes
they made.
I loved the idea of exchanging food, because we got to try out new dishes, dishes that are not commonly served in
our family. Plus, grand aunt was a great cook who seemed to have endless new recipes to share.
One of the creations was stuffed crab, a profoundly delicious concoction that never appeared on our
family’s dining table. I was a happy soul whenever grand aunt made stuffed crab.
I love crab and was fascinated by the presentation of the stuffed crab…but above all, I just couldn’t resist the
scrumptious filling stuffed inside the beautiful crab shells…
I don’t really know the true origin of this dish. In Penang, I have had stuffed crab
at Chinese seafood restaurants.
In Thailand, this dish is called poo cha. In some Chinese buffet restaurants, you can find
something similar.
Never mind the source of this wonderful dish, for now, it’s my favorite stuffed crab that brings back a lot of
childhood memories—my late grandmother’s smiley (and contended) face after tasting the goods; my grand-aunt’s
generosity in sharing her new dish; and the young and excited me when I spotted the bright red crab shells with
luscious filling, sitting pretty on the dining table.
Stuffed Crab (Poo Cha) Recipe
Stuffed crab or poo cha is a delicious crab dish where the crab shell is stuffed with the filling of crab and ground pork. Stuffed crab poo cha is great!
Ingredients
- 6-8 blue crab shells
Fillings:
- 8 oz ground pork
- 4 oz crab meat
- 2 oz peeled shrimp, minced
- 1 egg
- 3 shallots, minced
- 6 coriander leaves, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 3 heavy dashes ground black pepper
Coating:
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
Directions
-
1In a bowl, mix all the ingredients in the Filling and blend well. The texture of the Filling should be sticky.
-
2Stuff the Filling into the empty crab shells using a spoon. Smooth out the surface with the back of the spoon. Steam the stuffed crab for 5 minutes. Discard the water that seeps out.
-
3Cool the stuffed crab to room temperature after steaming. Heat up a wok with some oil. When the oil is heated, dip each crab shell into the beaten eggs. Make sure the filling is well coated with the beaten eggs. Transfer the stuffed crabs into the wok and fry them. As soon as the surface turns light to golden brown, dish out and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
For the best result, please use freshly picked crab meat. You can use any crab of your choice. However, frozen crab meat will work just fine.
If you don't have empty crab shells, you can still make the dish. Just divide the Filling into 6-8 portions. Flatten the Filling into a patty instead of stuffing inside the crab shell. (Next time when you eat blue crab, you can save the shell for this recipe.
love serving this stuffed crab with my favorite chili sauce, Lingham Hot Sauce.
Khanh Ho
In Vietnam, we have a similar dish, which is French influenced. It has a mixed Viet-French name: Cua farci. Cua means crab in Vietnamese. Farci means stuffed in French. It’s a hell of a lot of work to make!
Little Cooking Tips
What a delicious meal! Definitely a MUST, if we find some crabs available this summer! Thank you!
YImmie
Yum, one of my favourite, my parents like to take us to Coliseum cafe on Batu Road, but on my last trip home to KL I believe it’s gone. That used to be the only place that served this.
Zeenath A. Rahim
Hi Bee. …Love your site and the wonderful recipes. Can we use ground beef mince instead of pork? I am Muslim and dont eat pork.
Rebecca Lee
I did this dish & took some photos but the photos disappeared from my camera. I coated it with egg wash then breadcrumbs and deep fried over medium heat on the stuffed side until cooked then turned to high heat to forced all the oil out. It tasted good and fully cooked. So no need to steam and deep fry as it takes too much time and the egg will not cover the stuffed side. May be one day I will try to bake it as it will be less oily as whytevee said.
Rasa Malaysia
Great idea to coat with egg wash and then bread crumbs. Love it. Too bad you lost your photos. Baking is great idea, I will have to try this stuffed crab recipe with cheese.
whytevee
this dish is very common in chinese households in my hometown, terenganu..my mom makes it quite often..instead of deep-frying, i prefer to bake it in the oven..*drools*
Rebecca Lee
Thanks for sharing the recipe. In Vietnam or Cambodia or Thailand, they coated it with egg and breadcrumbs then deep fried.
Lisa @ Tarte du Jour
These stuffed crabs look gorgeous! I love that it has pork and shrimp in there too!
culinary
been very long time I don’t eat crabs, it seems I have to try it again this time with your recipe, the photo look delicious :)
Peter Pantry Raider
OMG!!! I just love stuffed crabs. Another similar dish is stuffed lobster. Both are great. Thanks so very much for the recipe.
Elsie
I love stuffed crab! Thanks for sharing this recipe. If I do not have any crab shells and if I make them into patties, do I still steam the patties and them coat in egg and fry them?
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, you do need to steam the patties and coat in eggs and fry them. The step is the same. Good luck and let me know how they turn out. :)
[email protected]
Would love to have the stuffed crab now..the sweet fresh crab meat with the other mixtures. Perfect!
Rasa Malaysia
In Penang, Ocean Green Seafood serves this stuffed crab but I think my version tastes better. :)
Brendan
When my Grandmother used to make this we would add chopped up rice noodles (like the kind found in fresh spring rolls) in with the filling and then sautee over really high heat the entire cooked crab shell with the filling in some black bean and garlic sauce. Still my, and my dad’s, favorite way to eat a crab.
Rasa Malaysia
Interesting variation your grandmother made. Would love to try that. :)
Lia Chen
Love crab a lot! Want to try this recipe soon for my family. Thanks Bee for sharing the recipe :)
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Lia, great that you like this stuffed crab recipe. Let me know how it turns out.
Eleanor Hoh
Just in time cause we have Dungeness crabs right now in Florida, yay. Gotta try this one, Bee. Oh, and I LOVE Lingham’s Hot sauce, on EVERYTHING.
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, Lingham hot sauce on everything is the way to go!
salley
I LOVE CRAB!
I will be trying this soon. Thanks for sharing.
Rasa Malaysia
Let me know how your stuffed crab turns out!