Broome-style sweet chilli mud crab

This feels a little fraudulent but the first time I ever had mud crab was in Broome and I've always associated it with Broome rather than Singapore. My two strongest memories of childhood Broome include being stung by a jellyfish, and this sweet chilli mud crab.

Broome-style sweet chilli mud crab Credit: Kitti Gould

• serves

  2

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

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Ingredients

• 2 mud crabs
• vegetable oil
• ¼ cup (60 ml) fish sauce
• 1 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced, to garnish
• coriander sprigs, to garnish

Chilli paste

• 3 long red chillies, thickly sliced
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp finely chopped lemongrass
• 1 tsp finely chopped galangal
• 1-2 makrut lime leaves
• ½ tsp shrimp paste

Instructions

1. Split and clean the crabs, lift the flap on the underside and pull off the top shell. Remove and discard the finger-like gills. Using a large cleaver, or heavy knife, cut into sections, cracking shell with the back of a knife to allow sauce to penetrate while cooking and for easy opening after cooking.
2. To make the chilli paste, use a mortar and pestle or a small food processor to blend the ingredients to a thick paste.
3. Heat a generous drizzle of vegetable oil in a wok over high heat. Add the chilli paste and the crab and cook, tossing, until the crab is partially cooked. Remove the crab from the wok to a plate.
4. Add the fish sauce to the pan and stir well until steaming. Return the crab to the wok and cook, coating in the sauce. Drizzle with the kecap manis and toss well to combine for a further 3-5 minutes, until crab is cooked through and sauce is thickened.
5. Serve the crab with the sauce from the wok spooned over. Garnish with sliced red chilli and coriander sprigs.

Note

• The mud crab can be replaced with twice the amount of blue swimmer crabs. Smaller crabs benefit from a light dusting of cornflour before cooking.

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Twist On Tradition

Watch The Full Episode Here

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Watch The Full Episode Here

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