Chilli crab

Leila cooks again! This was done a few days ago.
I'm not including an ingredients list, cos they're all in the pictures.

*I normally halve my crabs so it's easier to cook and eat. Oh, I bought flower crabs for this. Cheap cheap, surprisingly.

Heat oil in wok. Add whole garlic. (I should have used more oil here to cook the crabs better)

Add the crabs and fry/deep-fry them until they have changed colour. Or you could do this without the garlic. But....hantu garlic here!

Remove the crabs and with the same oil, saute chopped garlic. You may add sliced onions if you want.

Oyster sauce. I have never used specific measurements. Maybe about 3 tbsp here?

Add cili boh (Reduce dried chilli to a boil. Drain them. I normally deseed them during the draining process to reduce the heat. Finally, blend them and refrigerate to store). I added quite a large amount of this. Whatever is in the picture is not even half.

This is the part where you fry the whole thing until it is cooked. Masak sampai garing. This is an important process so that when you eat this dish, it won't burn your fingers. Plus, if it isn't cooked properly, you can taste it.

How to tell if it is cooked? Observe the separation between the oil and the mixture. The colour should darken too. And the aroma should fill your kitchen and stink your clothes.

Here, I added tamarind juice. Or air asam.

A bit of dark sauce. About 1 tbsp.

This is maple syrup, or commonly substituted with honey. You can skip this step if you want, then just taste with sugar.

Here is where you season with salt too.

Once done, add in the crabs and stir them until the crabs are covered. Right before putting in the crabs, I cracked 2 eggs and continued stirring it. The entire mixture ended up pretty thick. Maybe because the eggs were REALLY cooked. You could add them in much later. Like, immediately before putting the crabs in.

Here's the finished product.

My chilli crab this time was quite okay. Like I said, I could have added more oil in the beginning to deep-fry the crabs first. That way, the crabs are really cooked. I think it would work if you covered your wok too. I didn't  have a cover, so I just had to work with my limitations.

Try it out and let me know!

I'd give myself a B+ for this HAHA.