Crabbie ala Foo Chow

 Everytime when I start whipping out this crabbie dish, I would think of my dearest dad. This dish is his greatest creation, fast and easy to prepare, yet yummy!

One fine Saturday morning, dragging along my two kids with me, we chanced upon a fish market nearby the neighbourhood. I decided to haul a big fat yummy looking crabbie back home for dinner. It weighed about 1.7kg.

My kids had fun with the humongous crabbie for a short moment, before it fell prey in my cruel hands. Below are steps of how to manage and kill your crab.

Kill the crab before releasing him from string attached around. Just use a knife or any sharp object piercing through its heart and wait for 5 minutes or so.

Alternatively, you can pop the crab into freezer, letting him to die slowly. But because I do not want to wait, so I opted for a faster method.

My mum once shared her 1st experience in killing crab. Guess what she did to her crab? She poured hot boiling water onto pitiful struggling crab! At the end, all the crawlers and pincers fell apart...lol. So lesson learnt, never ever use hot water.

When the crab is motionless, remove the string, and give him a good scrub all over to remove any dirt and mud.

Use both hands, one holding onto the shell and the other on its crawlers, pull apart.

Remove all the filament-look alike thingy from the crab.

Finally, pull out the waste production organ, gently, you do not want to burst the black liquid thing in there, because it REALLY stink! Don't forget to clean the inner shell also, but careful not to remove the cholesterol laden (best stuff) from it.

Finally crack lightly on both pincers using the back of a chopper. This is to let the crab cook easily and to absorb the gravy from the dish. Ultimately, it will give you a no fuss crabbie meal later.

Basic ingredients to prepare crab ala Foo Chow style: Hua Tiaw chinese cooking wine, fish sauce, 4 large chicken eggs, ginger, bunch of spring onion and chinese coriander.

Heat up 2 tablespoon of cooking oil, brown the sliced ginger in the wok.

Throw in the crab, and toss until they are slightly red in colour, put in the shell facing down (like in the picture), pour in beaten eggs into the shell, and the remaining around the wok. Scatter the spring onion on top. Seasoned the dish with lots hua tiaw wine and just enough  fish sauce according to your personal preference. Cover the wok and let it simmers for 15 minutes.

Dish out. Decorate the dish with chinese coriander and chilli flower to impress. Ready to serve.

BON APPETIT