michelle picker cooks

These blue swimmer crabs were the best I’ve ever eaten! Thomas cooked them in this Singaporean dish, adapted from Chef John’s recipe at Food Wishes.

If you can get fresh crabs, don’t wash them – you want to retain as much natural flavour as possible. If you’ve never prepared them for cooking before then this video from The Sydney Fish Market will help. When you’ve prepared the crabs set them aside. In a bowl mix the sauce ingredients together: ½ a cup of tomato sauce (ketchup), 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon of tamarind paste, 2 tablespoons (or to taste) of sambal oelek (ground chilli sauce), 2 teaspoons of fish sauce, 2 teaspoons of palm sugar, 1 large egg and ½ a cup of chicken stock (or water). Finely dice 2 small brown shallots, 6 cloves of garlic, an equal amount of ginger and a fresh green chilli. Heat some vegetable oil in a wok and when very hot add the shallots, garlic, ginger and chilli and then almost immediately the crab pieces and approximately 2 tablespoons of water. Stir and cook for a few minutes until the crab has turned red. Add the sauce and continue to cook until the sauce thickens. Garnish with fresh coriander (cilantro) and serve with steamed rice.