Final Taste of Singapore - Chilli Crab and Jai

Towards the end of Vicki and Steve's visit, we asked if there was still an experience they wanted to have during their trip and they mentioned a desire to eat chilli crab before heading home. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, chilli crab is an iconic Singaporean dish. Mud crabs are combined with a sweet/spicy sauce that proves to be a complete mess to eat and what provides the local flair is to eat it at a restaurant where you are given one napkin the size of a tissue.

Our new helper Joyce overheard the discussion about chilli crab and shared that she knew how to make that dish very well. We're still learning about Joyce's cooking repertoire but everything she has made has been pretty good up to this point so we decided to have chilli crab at home for Gran and PaPa's last dinner here. The biggest challenge turned out to be finding the shell crackers we would need.

Joyce went to the Chinatown wet market and brought home 5 live crabs. Those crabs were quite the entertainment that afternoon. Naturally Elizabeth and Emily were intrigued by the live sea creatures in the kitchen and wanted a closer look. Apparently Vicki couldn't stay away either and felt a need to grab one of the fellows. Unfortunately she accidentally dropped him on the kitchen floor, effectively amputating one of his legs. We all observed (with plenty of laughter) her attempts to scoop up the crab with a spatula and eventually Vicki succeeded. But Steve was also involved, charming his wife by walking the dismembered crab leg up her arm. The picture I captured of the scene sums it up well...

Once the disabled crab was back in the bag with his other doomed friends, Elizabeth asked if she could touch one. She and Emily enjoyed petting a crab while Elizabeth whispered, "I don't want to tell him we are going to eat him later." I was a little concerned we were going to have a problem when it was time for the crab to become dinner but Elizabeth handled it fine.

I had intended to watch Joyce cook the chilli crab but got caught up helping Megan with homework so I'll have to learn next time. She explained to me that first she stabs the crab with a chopstick to kill it, cleans out the unwanted parts, then cooks it with a sauce she makes using fresh tomatoes, chilli powder and egg.

We confirmed Joyce can indeed cook chilli crab although next time we'll ask her to make it spicier since the girls don't like it anyway. I only wish I had remembered that it is normally served with mantou, delicious little fried buns you can use to dip in the chilli sauce. I'm glad we opted to do chilli crab at home for our guests' last meal here because I doubt eating it at a restaurant could have been more fun than our crab adventures in the kitchen.

After the girls were in bed and Vicki and Steve's bags were packed for their flight the next morning, we walked down to Clark Quay and visited our musician friend Jai at Mulligan's Irish Pub. It seemed like we should share that experience with Brian's parents since we often go there. We had invited a few of our old Riverplace neighbors so the Deans were able to meet them and while it should have been a somewhat quiet Wednesday night at the pub, a US aircraft carrier was in town so there were plenty of sailors in the crowd. It was a fun evening of music and a good way to wrap up the visit with Brian's parents.

Vicki and Steve left for the airport early the following morning and I couldn't believe how fast three weeks passed. We are so thankful Gran and PaPa are healthy and willing to travel across the world to visit us. And I look forward to the joyful shrieks when the girls see them back in Texas this summer.