Best 10 Curried Chile Crab Recipes

CURRY CRAB

Steps:

• To prep the crabs, check out our Scallion Ginger Cantonese Crab recipe for very detailed instructions. They should be as fresh as possible! After the crabs are prepared, pat them dry and dredge them with flour. Set aside.
• In most restaurants, crabs are almost always deep fried first, so they are cooked quickly and the juices get sealed in. But since we're doing this at home, we don't have to get out the deep fryer. The way to do it is to sear the crabs on all sides to get the same effect. Heat the wok over high heat and add 3 tablespoons of oil. Sear the crabs, paying special attention to the open dredged areas in order to seal in the juices. Turn the heat to medium and fry until they've turned red-orange. This process should take about 5 minutes and the crab should be about 80% done. Set them aside.
• There should be a tablespoon or more oil left in the wok and if not, add more until you have at least 1 ½ tablespoons. Add the ginger. Caramelize for 1-2 minutes on low heat, and then add the garlic, shallots, and the white portions of the scallion. Cook until softened.
• Turn heat to medium high and add the curry, turmeric, salt, sugar, water and wine, and stir until mixed well. Toss in the crab until coated and cover the wok. Cook for about 1 minute and stir and toss the crab until the liquid is reduced. Garnish with the green portion of the scallions and serve!

MALAYSIAN-STYLE GINGER-CHILE CRAB

Steps:

• If using live crabs, pour water in a large pot to a depth of 1 1/2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, add crabs, turn heat to medium-high, cover and steam until crabs are bright orange-red and all the blue-green color is gone, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and rinse under cold running water. (If using precooked crabs, skip to Step 2.)
• Clean the crabs: Grasp the top shell at the front, pull it away from the body and discard it. Turn the crab over, pry off the triangular apron and discard it, along with the spongy white gills. Grab the legs and claws close to the body, twist them off, and crack the claws lightly with a hammer. Discard the legs (or, if you are a crab fanatic, suck the meat out of them). You want to end up with a body and 2 claws, including knuckles, from each crab. Snap the body in half, using a chef's knife to cut through the shell if necessary.
• In a large sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil over high heat until it just begins to smoke. Add half the crab bodies and claws and sauté, tossing frequently with your tongs, for about 3 minutes. Add half of each of the remaining ingredients, except the salt and black pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute more.
• Remove everything from pan, add remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and repeat with remaining crabs and ingredients. Season with salt and black pepper. Serve warm or room temperature, with nutcrackers and picks.

CHILE CRAB

Steps:

• Combine shallots and red chile peppers in a food processor; pulse until a very fine paste forms.
• Crack the crab claws and the big legs slightly.
• Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat until very hot; add crabs and cook until shells change color and meat is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer crabs to a plate, reserving oil in the wok.
• Reduce heat under wok to medium-low and add chile pepper paste; cook and stir until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add garlic and ginger. Whisk ketchup, vinegar, and sugar together in a bowl; pour over garlic-ginger mixture and stir until sauce is well mixed.
• Return crab to sauce in the wok; cook and stir for 3 minutes more, seasoning with salt and pepper. Pour eggs into wok while continuously stirring to create strands in the sauce. Add water if sauce gets too dry. Remove wok from heat and garnish crabs with cilantro.

CURRIED CRAB SALAD LETTUCE CUPS

Steps:

• Combine the mayonnaise, lime juice and curry powder in a bowl. Stir in the crabmeat, cucumber, cilantro and diced chile. Add the scallions, reserving some of the dark green parts for topping. Season with salt.
• Divide among the lettuce cups. Top with the reserved scallion greens and the sliced chile. Serve with lime wedges.

SINGAPORE-STYLE CHILI CRABS

Steps:

• Pull the main shell off the crab and discard it. Remove the gray gills and the soft insides. Cut the body in half and then cut between each leg. Crack the legs and claws with the back of the knife or a hammer and set aside.
• In a bowl mix the ketchup, chili paste, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and tamarind paste; thin it with 1/4 cup water and set aside. Pour the oil into a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the scallion, ginger, garlic, 1/2 the chile, and cilantro and cook for 1 minute. Add the crab and stir-fry for another minute. Pour in the sauce and continue cooking, stirring often, until the crab has absorbed the sauce and the sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes.
• Put onto a platter and garnish with the rest of the chile and cilantro. Serve with plenty of napkins!

CHILI CRAB

Steps:

• In a casserole or large pot of boiling salted water, add the crabs and cook them for about 1 minute, or until no longer moving. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle.
• To clean the crabs pull off top shells; pull and twist off each apron; remove gills. With sharp knife cut crabs into quarters, rinse and drain.
• In mortor and pestle or small food processor pound or process chiles, garlic, shallots and ginger with a little oil if necessary.
• Combine all sauce ingredients.
• Heat a wok over moderately high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil and heat until hot. Add chili and garlic paste and stir-fry 1 minute. Add crabs and stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes or until shells turn red. Add sauce ingredients, bring to boil and simmer, covered, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer crabs to serving dish.
• Bring sauce in wok to a boil. Stir cornstarch mixture and add to wok. Simmer until thickened. Gradually add eggs in a stream, whisking, and cook for 1 minute. Pour sauce over crabs and garnish with scallion.

CURRIED CRAB

Steps:

• In bowl put crabmeat, onions, scallions, pepper and jicama. Toss to combine. In another bowl, whisk together curry oil, mayonnaise, and creme fraiche. Add curry mixture to crab mixture, season with salt and black pepper.;
• In skillet heat oil and curry powder slowly, stirring constantly until curry is fragrant with burning. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Let curry settle overnight then pour off oil. Store in refrigerator.
• Yield: about 1 cup

CURRIED CRAB SPREAD

Steps:

• In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, lemon zest, curry powder, salt and, if desired, chili sauce; gently fold in crab. Shape into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 15 minutes., Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add bread crumbs; cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer bread crumbs to a shallow bowl., Unwrap disk and press all sides into bread crumbs; place on a serving plate. Spoon chutney over top; sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with crackers.

CARIBBEAN CURRY CRAB

Steps:

• Cut the crabs in small pieces and use the lime juice for washing them. Use the ginger, minced chive, garlic, thyme to season the crabs. Pour the oil into a preheated pot.
• Make a paste by mixing the curry, salt and the pepper and add it to the hot oil. Next add the crab meat along with the coconut milk when the mixture thickens.
• Next allow the curry crabs to simmer for about 25 minute covered. When the curry crabs are done serve them with cassava dumplings.

SINGAPOREAN CHILI CRAB

Steps:

• Chili Crab Sauce:
• Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl (or 22-quart plastic Cambro containers, like we do) until it becomes one unified homogenous mixture of red chili sauce. It should taste spicy, sweet, and savory and not too ketchup-y.
• Prepare the crab:
• Clean crab and cut into pieces. If you have never done this before, this might sound easier said than done, but it's not nearly as daunting as it seems.
• In a debate of "humane" ways of killing crab: the Asian preparation of crab is a near-instant killing of the crab versus the longer and drawn out steaming/boiling method. Additionally, the boiling method tends to result in a much fishier "crabby" flavor, not as fresh tasting as with this method. If you look up videos on YouTube, look up "How to kill a live crab humanely," which will demonstrate this way of breaking down a crab.
• With that said, I wasn't as prepared in the photograph process, so I'm going to personally walk you through this as the first "Crab Killer" at Starry Kitchen:
• Quick tips: Put crabs in the freezer or refrigerator before breaking down. It will make them sleepy-slow them down very severely. There is also a way one of our cooks, Sean, uncovered on the web to gently pet a soft spot on their shell over and over and they'll start falling asleep. We've seen it. It's crazy, but it takes a lot longer than the freezer method.
• Next, when you're ready, you're going to need a decently sharp knife for this process or at least one with a sharp tip for this next step: try to grab the crab from the tail end, and flip the crab over, claws and eyes pointing away from you, and so it's belly-side up. If you look at its abdomen right in the center, you'll see a longer triangular lip (top of it pointing away from you) that can actually be lifted up. Until you're comfortable doing it often, you can use the tip of your knife to lift it up, but you'll want to use your hand to quickly just lift up and fold it over completely. The crab will potentially get VERY mad at this point. You've just exposed its most vulnerable spot.
• Then, this part is simple if you can move quickly: just stab it downward right through that spot that's been exposed until you reach the shell. Hold for about 10-20 seconds. The crab should die almost instantly.
• Afterwards, line your knife across the middle, and firmly press down and cleave it through the abdomen to cut the crab in half. The crab will snap in half once you come all the way down. You'll also be able to pull the crab by each of its claws, and it'll just come apart.
• You'll then want to turn each half over, and remove the white gills off of each and dispose.
• Dispose of the lip, and any other loose appendages from the front and back end of the crab.
• Dispose of the white film and any black matter inside the shell itself, but do not clean out the rest of the shell. That orange part, the coral, the fatty tissue is the MOST coveted part of the crab in Asian households (typically held for the father, no joke). It's like sea urchin/uni, really rich and very briny...and super-awesome to put rice into once it's cooked and scoop it out with. Yummers!
• Depending on how large your crab is, the two halves of crab legs can be broken into either 2 or 3 sections (there should be a minimum of 2 legs per section) using the same cleaving action as you did to halve the crab.
• And that's it! (If YouTube, this, and the web doesn't help you feel more comfortable-seriously, feel free to reach out to us: @starrykitchen. This dish is COMPLETELY worth it.)
• To make the Chili Crab:
• Now clean the crab legs again, then pat dry with paper towels. Put into a big bowl with cornstarch, but make sure to leave enough room to coat crab with starch.
• Diligently dredge all exposed crab pieces including the coral and head, inside and out, with starch. Next, shake off excess starch, but make sure all of the exposed (non-shelled) parts are covered in starch. This seals in all of the crab's flavors throughout the cooking process. This is especially important if you need to prepare in advance.
• Fill a wok/pot with 2 to 3 inches cooking oil, enough to submerge crab pieces, including the head. Heat oil to 350°F over high heat, then carefully fry in batches, arranging crab pieces in a single layer in the oil. Turn over pieces with tongs to fry evenly.
• When the crab pieces turn red all over and the battered parts are golden, remove and shake the excess oil over your pot. Set aside (we like to set crab on a rack/grate and baking sheet to allow a little bit more oil to drip off). Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
• Once you're ready to make your chili crab, heat a wok/pan on high heat and add 1 tablespoon cooking oil per crab. Sauté garlic, shallots, ginger, and chiles until aromatic (enough to make you cough-that's how you know you got the GOOD stuff). Next, add the beautiful monstrosity that is your crab. Stir quickly for 10 to 15 seconds, then add Chili Crab Sauce. Cover, cook over high heat, and cook that bad boy (or girl) for 7 minutes.
• Keep the pan over heat, but remove crab from pan and place on a serving dish. While reconstructing your sea beast, make sure to leave all the sauce in the wok/pan. Crack eggs into the sauce, and quickly mix to fully incorporate them and thicken the sauce. Increase to high heat and reduce sauce to desired thickness. (I like it pretty thick and a little bit gloppy GOOD.) Once done, remove from heat, and pour sauce all over the crab. Garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro. Serve with Buttermilk Beer Beignets. Break down the crab, sop up all that sauce, and eat like a Singaporean king!