Singapore Chilli and Truffle Mud Crab - Chef Recipe Adam Dundas-Taylor

Ingredients

4 x 350g-400g mud crab claws

Chilli and black truffle sauce:

4 Tbs hoisin sauce
2 Tbs plum sauce
3 Tbs sweet chilli sauce
250mL chicken stock
1 1/2 Tbs cracked black pepper
1 Tbs fish sauce
150mL crushed tomatoes
2 diced tomatoes
2 Tbs white truffle oil

Egg noodle:

250g vermicelli egg noodles
Water to cover
Pinch salt

Aromatics:

100mL vegetable oil
1 Tbs ginger, chopped
1 Tbs garlic, chopped
1 Tbs red chilli, diced
3 Tbs whole dried red chilli, chopped into 5mm slices
4 Tbs spring onions

Yellow tapioca cracker:

1L water
250g tapioca flour
1 Tbs aji Amarillo
1 Tbs turmeric
Pinch salt

Garnish:

4 Tbs dried red chilli, fried
6 Tbs shallots, chopped
Pinch micro coriander cress
4 lime halves

Method

Poached crab claw:

Gently crack the crab claws with crab crackers, ensuring the shell still remains slightly intact.

Heat water to 65 C. Gently place crab claws in water and poach for 18 minutes, until cooked through.

Take the crab from water and place in ice water quickly to cool. Once cool put to the side.

Chilli and black truffle sauce:

In a heavy-based saucepan add the hoisin sauce, plum sauce, sweet chilli sauce and chicken stock, cook for 5 minutes.

Add fresh tomato, crushed tomato and cracked black pepper, cook for a further 5-10 minutes until you have a sauce consistency.

Take off heat and stir in the truffle oil.

Vermicelli egg noodles:

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Place egg noodles into the pot and cook for 6 minutes until cooked.

Chill under cold water until chilled.

Yellow tapioca cracker:

Preheat oven to 80 C.

Heat water, whisk in tapioca flour and salt, cook for 10 minutes until transparent.

Cook for 5-10 minutes until thickened and take off heat.

Whisk in 2 tablespoons of aji amarillo chilli paste and 2 tablespoons turmeric to the mixture.

Place mix into a blender and blend for 30 seconds - this will make the mix easier to spread.

Line a baking tray with a silicone mat and spread the mix evenly 1 mm thick over the entire tray with a palette knife.

Place tray in oven for up to 4 hours, or until dry and crispy.

Take the cracker off the silicon mat and place in an air-tight container with lid on.

Place in freezer for 24 hours and then leave out for a few hours.

Preheat deep fryer to 180 C.

Break the cracker into your preferred size/shape and place in the fryer.

The cracker should puff up straight away.

Place the puffed cracker onto a paper towel to drain the oil, sprinkle with sea salt.

Plating:

Prepare your warm serving bowl.

Heat a wok and add the sunflower oil. Add all aromatics and cook until fragrant without burning.

Place crabs in the wok and toss until the crab is mixed well with the aromatics. Add three-quarters of the sauce and toss in the pot until sauce is hot and totally coating the crab.

In a pot of boiling salted water, flash the egg noodles for 30 seconds.

Place the noodles in a bowl and mix through the remaining sauce.

With a carving fork, gently twist the noodle around the fork and lift up out of the bowl and place gently into your warm serving bowl.

To the side of the noodles place the crab claws covered in sauce, lay your tapioca cracker behind the claw.

Garnish the crab and noodle with fried dried chilli, shallots and micro coriander cress and half a lime.

Notes:

The dish is a combination of a Singaporean mud crab and a black pepper mud crab. The cornflour and eggs have been omitted.

Egg noodles can be purchased from your local supermarket.

The crab claw can be substituted for a whole mud crab.

Crab crackers and meat pickers can be purchased online or at your local kitchen store.

Aji amarillo can be purchased form a Peruvian supplier, however if you don’t have access, you can use a store-bought yellow curry paste, or source yellow chillis, boil in water for 30 seconds, cool under cold water, take off the skins and then blitz in a blender with vegetable oil to cover, until you have a paste.