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- 3 – 4 Fresh Blue Crabs / Sand Crabs / Mud Crabs (approx. 300 grams each)
- 2 cups of water
- 10 tbsp tomato sauce (ketchup)
- 3 tbsp white sugar (or more, if wanting more sweetness in sauce)
- 3 tsp cornflour
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 8 cloves of chopped fresh garlic
- 4 pieces of chopped fresh red chilli (I used Thai-style chillis but other types of red chilli might also work)
- 5 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp garlic and herb salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 spring onions, chopped in to small pieces
- 2 tsps fresh lime juice (or lemon or cumquat juice)
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
- Mix the sauce ingredients together first in a big bowl. Just put together water, tomato sauce, cornflour, sugar, and salt and mix them using a fork until they’re dissolved.
- Heat the saucepan or wok and add the vegetable oil.
- Saute the chopped garlic until light brown (takes just a few seconds to a minute in a hot pan).
- Add the chopped red chilli and saute quickly until you can smell the spice.
- Mix in the fresh crabs and fry them together until the crabs turn red (orange-y color). The length of this will vary on the number of crabs being cooked at the same time – and their sizes.
- Once the crabs are red, slowly add the sauce mixture in. Mix in the oyster sauce and the garlic and herb salt. Stir and let simmer for about 10 – 15 minutes. Again, this will depend on the crab sizes and number. You’ll know when the crabs are cooked by the crab shell’s color (turning orange).
- While still simmering, add the eggs in. And, break the eggs using your wooden spoon or fork. Make sure you do this quickly, so that the eggs won’t get lumpy.
- Then, add the freshly squeezed lime juice, spring onions and some fresh coriander. Stir.
- Once cooked, put the crabs in a big serving dish and drizzle the sauce on top. Then, sprinkle the rest of the chopped fresh coriander.