Singaporean Soft Shell Chili Crabs

Singaporean Soft Shell Chili Crabs

August 2, 2020

Servings: 4

Prep: 5 min

Cook: 20 min

Total: 25 min

Print This

Spice up your soft shell crabs and bring this signature Singapore dish from the hawker markets right to your very own table!

By: A Wholesome New World

Ingredients

• For the Sauce:
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 2 to 3 shallots, minced (about 1/2 cup)
• 2 TBSP ginger, grated
• 2 TBSP minced garlic cloves (4-6 cloves)
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
• 2 TBSP Red Chili Paste
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 scallion, minced
• For the Crabs:
• Vegetable oil
• 1 (12-oz.) can evaporated milk
• 1 large egg
• 4 soft-shell crabs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

• Step 1 In small bowl, stir cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water and set aside. In large wok, heat oil over medium heat until shimmering. Stir in shallots, ginger and garlic. Cook until fragrant, stirring, about 1 minute.
• Step 2 Add the broth. Increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Stir in tomato paste and chili sauce. Simmer 1 minute and season to taste with salt, sugar, or chili sauce. Stir in cornstarch and bring to boil to thicken.
• Step 3 While the sauce thickens, prepare your crabs: Rinse crabs, and pat dry. Sprinkle crabs with seasoned salt. Dredge crabs in flour
• Step 4 dip in milk mixture, and dredge in flour again. Coat a skillet in vegetable oil and heat to medium-high heat. Fry crabs, in batches, in hot oil 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on a wire rack over paper towels.
• Step 5 To serve, remove sauce from heat and stir in egg. Stir in green onions. Place fried crabs in a serving dish, ladle with sauce, and sprinkle with green onions for garnish.

What’s the next best thing after flying to Singapore and ordering up one of their famous chili crabs? Staying home and recreating them with my incredibly easy – but nearly identical – recipe! These sweet and spicy stir-fried crabs got their start at a small pushcart in 1956. … now they are world famous and can be found at hawker markets all over the city, and beyond. They’re a must eat when you travel to Singapore, but since it looks like it will be awhile before any of us are hopping on planes again, we couldn’t resist making our own version, using a summertime favorite – soft shell crabs! (And be sure to check out another, more traditional, soft shell crab recipe here)

We traveled to Asia in the spring of 2016 and it was hands-down one of the most incredible trips of my life. We started in Beijing China, where we spent a whirlwind 24 hours, squeezing in as many sights as we could and climbing The Great Wall. Then it was on to Singapore, which to this day, is one of my favorite cities we’ve ever visited. The foodie experience in this city is truly second to none and I’ll probably never forget the chili crabs we had at Long Beach Dempsey. We ended the trip with a week in Thailand – the perfect finale to an epic trip. If you ever need a travel guide to this part of the world, don’t hesitate to ask! I still have my full 10-page itinerary at my finger tips, just waiting for the day we can someday return, hopefully with the kiddos!

For this recipe…

TYPE OF CRAB:

Making this dish with soft shell crabs was a nice twist. Since it’s a smaller portion – you can serve it as a fun appetizer or side dish. But if you want to go all out and prepare the dish more traditionally, you’ll want to use a fresh Dungeness crab, or equally large and meaty crab. You will just want to adjust the cook time (cook for about 10 minutes) and you’ll probably want to sauté the crab in the sauce as you make it (in Step 2, once you add the broth), instead of frying it like we did. Look how incredible this sauce is!

Since we were using lighter, more delicate soft shell crabs – we decided to lightly pan fry the crabs first and serve them with the sauce instead. It added a nice satisfying crunch to the dish and keeps the crabs from getting soggy in the sauce.

CLEANING YOUR CRABS:

Ideally, you can have your fishmonger do this for you, but if not – here’s a great quick video you can watch to make sure you’ve done what you need to do!

This recipe will literally having you lick your fingers and the plate. It’s sweet, it’s spicy and it’s the best chili crab I’ve ever had on this side of the planet, I can tell you that! Comment below and let us know what you think!

Adapted from Serious Eats.