• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
✮ The Food Dictator ✮

The Hirshon Singapore Black Pepper Crab

July 9, 2015 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

1170
SHARES
FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditWhatsappYummly
Light Dark Dark Light
()
The Hirshon Singapore Black Pepper Crab
Singapore Black Pepper Crab Image Used Under Creative Commons License From gourmettraveller.com.au

Citizens, I was enthralled with this dish when I was introduced to it during my first trip to Singapore, even preferring it to the famed Chili Crab, to be honest (even though Chili Crab is the more renowned recipe).

Thought to have been created in the 1950s at the Long Beach Seafood restaurant, black pepper crab has since become a staple of Singapore’s street food stalls and is one of the country’s most iconic dishes. The crab is fried first and then smothered in a thick, rich oyster sauce spiced liberally with plenty of peppercorns, garlic, chilies and ginger.

Try my recreated version and be equally swayed – it can also be made with chicken or cubed fish if you want an alternative recipe (but my favorite version outside of crab is with prawns). Very Shiok (delicious) and very much a personal favorite enjoyed here in my secret underground lair as I plot world domination for the 8000-member strong TFD NATION! 🙂

Note: If at all possible, try using Penzey’s Special Extra Bold Indian Black Peppercorns. The berries are left on the vine to ripen even longer than top-tier Tellicherry peppercorns and are plucked when they begin to turn pink.

As a result, the flavor is more complex and unusually robust, with a surprisingly mellow burn. (In industry terms, “special” means best flavor and “extra bold” refers to extra-large size; only 10 pounds out of each ton make the grade.)

Battle on – The Generalissimo

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

The Hirshon Singapore Black Pepper Crab


★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Total Time: 0 hours
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 live Dungeness crabs (or whatever local crab is alive and/or freshest), about 2 pounds each
  • Scant 1/2 cup peanut oil
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • 7 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp good-quality taucheo 豆瓣酱 (aka Fermented Bean Paste), mashed. Taucheo is very fragrant and adds great umami flavor
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons ginger paste
  • 1 sprig fresh curry leaves (available in Asian and Indian grocery stores – this is an optional ingredient)
  • 1 tablespoon Serrano chile, chopped fine
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon chicken stock (use low-salt if canned)
  • 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine (or use medium-dry Sherry)
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (note this is not standard soy sauce, it is darker and richer – buy it from Asian supermarkets or on Amazon)
  • 1/4 cup oyster sauce (I prefer Lee Kum Kee Premium brand)
  • 1/4 cup black pepper, coarsely ground (or to taste) (see note)
  • Chopped Cilantro

Instructions

  1. Have your fishmonger kill and clean the crabs, cut them into quarters and crack the claws.
  2. In a large wok, preferably cast iron, heat the oil over a high flame until very hot, but not smoking. Stir-fry the crab pieces in two batches, 4 to 5 minutes each, until they turn bright red. Remove from the wok and set aside.
  3. Lower the heat to medium high and add the butter to the wok, with the existing oil. As soon as it begins to sizzle, add the rest of the ingredients. Stir-fry briefly. Then return the crab to the wok and stirfry for 4 to 5 minutes more. Make sure that the crab is well-coated with the peppercorn mixture.
  4. Remove from the wok, garnish with chopped Cilantro and serve at once with ice cold beer, some buns or bread to soak up that delicious sauce and a very large stack of napkins, you’ll need them!
  • Prep Time: 0 hours
  • Cook Time: 0 hours
  • Category: Recipes

Nutrition

  • Calories: 809.23 kcal
  • Sugar: 2.94 g
  • Sodium: 2443.88 mg
  • Fat: 43.66 g
  • Saturated Fat: 12.65 g
  • Trans Fat: 0.47 g
  • Carbohydrates: 19.11 g
  • Fiber: 3.46 g
  • Protein: 82.59 g
  • Cholesterol: 298.26 mg

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @thefooddictator on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook and hashtag it #TFD

How useful was this post, Citizen?

Click to rate My Recipe, Citizen - 5 hearts are ALWAYS appreciated!

Average rating / 5. Vote count:

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

As you found this post useful...

Follow us on social media, Citizen!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Related posts:

The Hirshon Chinese Vegetarian Goose - 素鵝
Isle of Man Christmas Haggis - Mollag
The Hirshon Chinese Wensi Tofu Thread Soup - 文思豆腐汤
The Hirshon Siberian Pelmeni - пельме́ни
The Hirshon Key Lime Pie
The Hirshon Parsi Lagan Nu Wedding Custard - લગ્ન કસ્ટાર્ડ
The Hirshon Schnitzel à la Holstein
The Hirshon Maine-Style Lobster Roll

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Seafood

About The Generalissimo

The myth of the Generalissimo is far more interesting than the reality.

Previous Post: « The Hirshon Mexican Shrimp Cocktail – Coctel de Camarones
Next Post: The Hirshon Salmon Croquettes »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Primary Sidebar

➤ Citizens – Please Support TFD Nation!

Donate to Help TFD!

⇔ Search, And Ye Shall Assuredly Find!

✮ Citizens ✮

TFD currently has a total of 1,363 posts and 1,159,134 words written since December of 2014! Add your voice to My 50,000+ dedicated readers, comment on My recipes and thus become an active member of TFD Nation! Looking for a particular recipe? Search for it in the box above or via the category tags below - there are THOUSANDS of the finest in world and historic recipes here!

❧ TREMBLE Before Our Categoric Zeal!

Appetizers (145)Beef (143)Beverages (24)Bread (111)Cheese (64)Chicken (132)Chinese (121)Chocolate (16)Condiments (262)Dessert (166)Drinks (23)Duck (20)Egg (47)Fish (56)French (56)Game (30)Georgian (34)Indian (60)Italian (58)Jewish (84)Lamb (73)Manifestos (1)Pasta (90)Pork (147)Salad (40)Sandwich (42)Seafood (84)Shrimp (53)Soup (109)Spices (12)Tofu (7)Turkey (15)Veal (18)Vegetables (108)

✺ Click to Follow Us Across Social Media!

Facebook   

    instagram

☥ TFD SPEAKS!!!

https://www.thefooddictator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TFD-Avatar-Cold-Open-FINAL.mp4

 Enjoy TFD’s Mellifluous Podcasts, Citizen!

Listen on Apple Podcasts

© 2023 · The Food Dictator is abjectly served by WORDPRESS

✮ The Food Dictator ✮
Manage Cookie Consent
Citizens!

Be advised that as an enlightened Dictatorship here at TFD, we are indeed on the side of right when it comes to protecting the privacy of TFD Nation!

We do use technologies such as cookies to store and/or access device information, solely to improve your browsing experience and to show personalized ads.

Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions - trust us, we really ARE on your side!

YOUR LOYALTY IS NOTED! 🎖️
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
1170
SHARES
FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditMailYummly