Ingredients

• 1 live or freshly boiled crab. If you can get good crab claws, you can use those instead. Your dish will then be more meaty

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced

• 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly slice

• 1 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced

• 2-3 spring onion green finely chopped

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 tsp. sesame oil

• 1 tbsp. light Soya sauce

• 1-2 tsp. HOT chilli sauce*, adjusted to taste

• 2 tbsp. Tomato ketchup

• 1-2 tbsp. smoked barbecue sauce (optional). It add a Smokey flavour to the crab.

• 1 tbsp. corn flour, mixed with 2-3 tbsp. water

• Salt to taste (add salt only after tasting, because sauces and crab are already salty)

• *If you have access to Szechuan peppers, use freshly ground Szechuan peppers according to taste, in place of chilli sauce

Instructions

1. Prepare crab; wash crab under running water and drain. Discard gills and any spongy bits under the shell. Holding it up-side down, pry the top shell apart. Pull of the middle plate. Pull off and remove gills and other spongy bits under the shell. Cut the body into 4, using a sharp knife. Scoop out and save the paste like substance inside the shell. If you have a good fishmonger, you can ask him/her to prepare the crab for you. There are many excellent YouTube videos on preparing the crab on the internet, you can watch one.

2. Heat the vegetable and sesame oil together in a wok. Add ginger and garlic and fry lightly.

3. Now add sliced onion and fry lightly.

4. While onions are frying, dissolve the corn flour in 3-4 tbsp. water.

5. Add crab, Soya sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce, smoked BBQ sauce, spring onions. Stir.

6. Add corn flour in water. Continue to stir fry on medium high heat, until the crab changes colour to orange and the sauce thickens.

7. Taste and adjust salt and chillies, adding more chilli sauce if needed. Turn heat down, cover and simmer for a further 2-3 minutes.

8. Serve straight away, with steamed rice. You can use fresh coriander leaves for garnish, if you wish.