Singapore
Photo: megawatts86, CC BY-SA 2.0, croppedChilli crab
辣椒螃蟹
/làtɕjáu pʰǎŋɕjê/CHILL-ee crab
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- When
- Lunch & dinnerFestive
- Taste
- SpicySweet
- Made with
- SeafoodEgg
History
Chilli crab is mud crab stir-fried in a sweet, sour and mildly spicy sauce of tomato, chilli and egg, eaten with fried or steamed mantou buns to mop up the sauce. It is often named as Singapore's national dish. The usual story credits Cher Yam Tian, who in the 1950s began selling crabs cooked with chilli sauce from a pushcart along the Kallang River with her husband; they later opened a restaurant. Restaurants on the East Coast seafront became famous for it from the 1960s. Eating it is messy, and diners use their hands and wear bibs. The crabs are often imported from Sri Lanka, and black pepper crab is another favourite.
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