Singaporean Chili Crabs

I miss cooking in my kitchen. Between our work and Hubby's unusual work schedules, I find less and less reason to whip up a meal on weekdays. On some weekends though when our schedules are not so hectic with errands, I cook (or sleep, he he he). Hubby sometimes makes "tampo" that I don't cook as much as I used to. I guess, with two capable housekeepers, I tend to just leave it up to them. I trained them well, as my guests would often comment. One even said that they could probably open a restaurant because they already know most of my recipes! :-)

Anyway, back to my weekend cooking. I've been experimenting on Asian dishes lately and has stocked up my pantry with some basic supplies. I wanted to re-claim my kitchen, so to speak, and cook food that I've never cooked before. This weekend, I tried making Singaporean-style Chili Crabs. Obviously, it's not authentic since I can't fined belacan (shrimp paste of some sort). This is my first try and it there us definitely space for improvement. The recipe's not yet spot on and a bit salty. I have a few ideas to make it better. I rarely experiment on crabs since they're so expensive to make. Hubby's also not fond of crabs with any sauce on it. He loves crabs just steamed, but, like a good husband, he ate what I made anyway :-)



To make sure that I won't have a complete failure during my lunch with Hubby, I made some fresh spring rolls using mangoes from Zambales, which is the sweetest mango variety from the Philippines. I also added crab sticks, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots and cilantro to the spring rolls. I just used Japanese mayo for the dressing. I can't believe that I am saying this, but I miss the sound of my knife hitting the cutting board as I slice vegetables. The swish swish sound is hypnotic and therapeutic to me :-)



For dessert, we had "kinalog na duhat" (shaken duhat berries). Duhat are local berries, similar to grapes but has a bigger pit. Duhat is in season right now and it is best enjoyed when you place it in a sealed container, add rock salt and shake it, to bruise its skin. You will have purple teeth after consuming duhat, but the taste is worth it :-)



Duhat is becoming more rare lately, not really sure why, so whenever we see some, we purchase a few kilos.

Overall, Hubby and I enjoyed a quiet lunch at home together. Very rare lately :-)