Sri Lankan Devilled Crab
Yield: Serves 2 people
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶/5
Significance of the Dish
In Sri Lanka, the term “devilled” refers to a preparation of food which is a fusion of Sri Lankan and Chinese flavors. Originating during British colonial rule, its modern version today can be made with a variety of different proteins. Sweet, spicy, tangy, all tossed together, what’s not to love?! With the use of garlic, ginger, lemongrass, tomato and oyster sauce, devilled food is often eaten on a night out socializing with your friends with a couple of drinks. At least that’s when I would order it most, but not in the form of this crab recipe, but rather as devilled chicken, pork sausage, or prawns.
No, the crabs of Sri Lanka are sacred and are not reserved for a night of indulgence with friends, but rather for a nice lunch paired with fried rice and family. Sri Lanka is famous of its lagoon crabs. Their meat is tender and sweet, and they can reach sizes of up to 3 kilograms. They are so delicious, so much so that other Southeast Asian countries use them in their local recipes as well, such as the infamous Singapore chili crab.
Ingredient guidance
- Crabs: If you're lucky enough and can find Sri Lankan lagoon crabs please do use them, their sweet tender flesh is something you won’t forget eating any time soon. If not, I usually use blue swimmer crabs, but it can be made with a large variety of crabs. Devilled is a fairly modern dish in Sri Lanka and there are no strict rules on how to make it other than it needs its signature sweet, spicy, and tangy flavor combo.
- “Tomato sauce vs Ketchup” – In Sri Lanka, if you ever come across a recipe that lists tomato sauce as an ingredient, they are talking about ketchup. The names are used synonymously on the island.
- Lemongrass: can use fresh or frozen for this dish, but not dried!
- Ginger: smaller clusters of ginger are more flavorful than the oversized units, so look for the small ones!
Ingredients
- 6-8 units Lagoon Crabs or Blue Swimmer Crabs
- 1 unit Yellow Pepper (capsicum)
- 6 Green Chili
- 2 medium units Tomatoes
- 1 medium unit Red Onion
- 2 units Spring Onion
- 3-4 cloves Garlic
- 1 stick Lemongrass
- 1 tbsp Ginger
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 250ml Water
- 3 tbsp Ketchup (tomato sauce)
- 2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
- 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1-3 tsp Chili Powder
- 30ml Coconut Oil
Mise en Place
- Prepare the live crabs, I keep mine in the freezer for 1 hour as that triggers their sense of dormancy and makes them docile. Then a swift knife through the middle of the crabs’ soft underbelly.
- Finely chop the garlic and the ginger. Cut the lemongrass into smaller pieces.
- Slice the green chilies in half, and cut the tomato, yellow pepper and onion into 2 cm cubes.
- Slice the spring onion into small tubes.
Procedure & Methods
- Begin by placing the crabs in a large pot with the water, salt, chili powder, black pepper, and turmeric. Then add the chopped garlic, lemongrass and ginger and give it all a good stir.
- Place the heat on medium and boil the crabs for about 10 minutes. once the crabs are cooked, remove them and reserve them for later. Reserve the crab bouillon that’s now been made - in the pot. You can also choose to strain the bouillon if you wish.
- In a wok, start by heating the coconut oil and frying off the red onions, green chili, yellow pepper and then once they start to turn golden, add in the tomato and spring onion.
- Deglaze the pan with the crab stock and mix in the ketchup, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and cook until it has reduced to a thick sauce that can coat the back of a spoon.
- Add the crabs back into the pan and mix well to coat the sauce all around it. Cook for one more minute just to bring everything together and heat the crabs back up, then plate up and enjoy!
Pairing
Devilled crab in Sri Lanka is often paired with fried or steamed rice, but I have also encountered different restaurants in the capital of Colombo that serve it with French fries. The salty fries make a surprisingly pleasant pairing with the sweet tangy devilled sauce!
Storage and Reheating
This dish is best enjoyed fresh, do not reheat shellfish as it will lose all its delicate flavors and most likely be overcooked.
Co-founder of Snout & Seek. Born and raised in Sri Lanka, Arnold's passion for food stems from both his Dutch and Sri Lankan roots. A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, Arnold's career in the culinary industry has brought him from the Netherlands to Canada, where he now teaches at a cooking school.
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