Singapore Black Pepper Crab

Ingredients

• 2 mud crabs or Dungeness crabs, about 1.6 kg in total
• 4 tbsp black peppercorns
• 80 g salted butter
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 10 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cm ginger, minced
• 3 sprigs curry leaves
• 4 bird's eye chillies, sliced
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 100 ml water or chicken stock
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 3 spring onions, cut into lengths
• mantou buns, to serve

Before you cook

• Ask the fishmonger to kill and clean the crabs for you, or chill them in the freezer for twenty minutes first.
• Lift off the top shell of each crab, pull away the gills and cut the body into four pieces.
• Crack the claws with the back of a heavy knife so the sauce can get inside.
• Crack the peppercorns coarsely in a mortar, leaving them gritty rather than powdered.
• Mince the garlic and ginger and pick the curry leaves off their stems.
• Toss the crab pieces in the cornflour.

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a large wok over high heat until it shimmers.
2. Fry the crab pieces in two batches for three minutes each, turning them, until the shells turn bright orange.
3. Lift the crab out onto a plate.
4. Lower the heat to medium and drop the butter into the wok.
5. Once the butter foams, add the cracked black pepper and stir it for ninety seconds, until the whole kitchen smells sharply of pepper.
6. Add the garlic, ginger, curry leaves and chillies and fry for two minutes.
7. Stir in the oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and sugar.
8. Pour in the water and let the sauce bubble for one minute.
9. Return the crab to the wok and toss it hard, so every piece is coated.
10. Cover the wok and cook for five minutes, tossing once halfway through.
11. Uncover and stir over high heat for two minutes, until the sauce is dark, thick and clinging rather than runny.
12. Throw in the spring onions and toss once.
13. Tip the crab onto a warm platter and serve with mantou buns for mopping and an empty bowl for the shells.