Ketam Masak Lemak Cili Api (Crab cooked with Coconut Milk and Chili)

Ketam Masak Lemak Cili Padi

We both love to eat crab and if you're living in Johor Bahru, the best place to look for fresh crabs is at Jalan Gelam, Kampung Pendas. You can go to Pendas Fresh Fish Market at Jalan Gelam for your crab or directly deal from the fishermen boat at jetty. I strongly recommend you to deal with the fisherman directly for fresh crabs and also for a better price too. However, you need to be at the jetty as early as 7.30am because there will be many people at the jetty waiting for fresh crabs.

My favorite recipe for crab are Masak Lemak Cili Padi (The recipe will be shared in this post) and Chili Crab. Both are two popular seafood dishes available in Malaysia and Singapore. There are also other delicious crab recipes available such as  Blackpepper Crab, Curry Noodle Crab, Salted Egg Crab and more.

Flower Crab

I love to eat crab very much but I must admit that it is hard to enjoy a crab meal. Some people find it to hassle and some are just allergic to seafood(my husband actually have mild seafood allergy. But he never bother about restricting his diet. He just enjoyed the menu until he felt numb on his lips, then only he stopped). But if you can or manage to get fresh crabs (sweet and soft fleshy meat) out from a fisherman boat, believe me, all the hard work is worth it.

We only go for two types of crabs only which are the Ketam Bunga and Ketam Nipah. They are difference in size, shell type and colour. If you ordered Nipah crab dish in a restaurant, you will be provided with a cracker or small hammer together with the dish. Compare to Nipah, Ketam Bunga has softer shell and easy to eat. We we can simply break the shell with our teeth, however, the crab legs still need to be cracked by a cracker or small hammer.
Ok, lets now talk about the recipe. It is a simple but delicious crab dish cooked with coconut milk and few birds eye chilies. Ketam Masak Lemak recipe has been posted in this blog before. The only change that I have made here is to add or replace with birdseye chilies. I like it to be extra hot. Also, try my Udang Galah Masak Lemak Terung recipe.

Okay, here you go and hope you like it.

INGREDIENTS: 
4 fresh flower crabs (remove the hard shell but keep the fat inside it except for the buble shape thing, it will make you feel dizzy)
2 tumeric leaves
9-11 birds eye chilies (as per your hot level preferences)
1-2 cloves of shallots 1 inch fresh tumeric
1 fresh coconut milk 1 asam keping
2-3 tbs cooking oil
Salt/sugar to taste

HOW TO:
First, pound the shallots, fresh turmeric and birds eye chilis altogether. Put cooking oil into wok. Once ready, sauté the pounded items until fragrance. Then pour in the coconut milk. Then put the numeric leaves.Keep stirring the coconut milk while waiting to bubble up. Once the coconut milk starting to bubble up put in all the crabs. Please bear in mind that seafood cannot be cook too long, it will harden the meats. Don’t forget to put in the asam keping together with salt and sugar to taste. Once the whitey flesh cooked, then turned off the stove and ready to serve.