Black pepper crab

John Javier Crab Final
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This recipe for black pepper crab from John Javier is a Singaporean classic. Deep-fried crispy crab is soaked in a black pepper-infused butter. It's delicious with fried mantou or noodles, for soaking up the peppery, fragrant sauce.

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First published in 2023

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Method

1

Shock the crab in ice water for 15 minutes, then kill it with a sharp blow to the nerve centre on its underbelly

  • 1.5kg crab, live and ideally male
2

To break the crab down, start by removing the claws from the body. Next remove the top shell of the head to expose the inside of the crab. Quarter the crab with a cleaver

3

In a large steel mixing bowl, mix together the plain flour and potato starch

  • 700g of plain flour
  • 300g of potato starch
4

Add the chopped brown onions and garlic to a saucepan. Cook over low heat until caramelised. Add the dried shrimp and curry leaves and cook for a further minute. Set aside to cool down

5

Preheat a deep fryer or large pot of oil to 180°C. If you are deep frying in a pot, make sure that you do not fill it more than 1/3 of the way as the oil expands and may overflow

  • vegetable oil, for deep-frying
6

Once the cooked onion mixture is room temperature, add the salt, pepper, sugar, oyster sauce and MSG. Mix thoroughly, then add the butter and mix again, making sure that there are no clumps of plain unsalted butter

7

Add the extra curry leaves to a small metal sieve or a wok spider. Deep-fry the leaves in the oil until crisp but not coloured, and transfer to a tray lined with paper towels to cool down

8

Toss the crab in the flour mix and deep fry for 2 minutes at 180°C. Once cooked, remove the crab from the pot and place it into a large steel mixing bowl

9

Heat up a few ladles of the black pepper butter gently in a saucepan whilst whisking. It should get warm but not sizzling. Pour the butter over the cooked crab and toss until the crab is well coated in the sauce

10

Transfer the crab to a plate, and assemble it into a crab-like shape. Top with more sauce and the crispy curry leaves, and serve with noodles or fried mantou

First published in 2023

John Javier became known as one of the most exciting new voices in Chinese cooking while at the helm of Master in Sydney and Happy Paradise in Hong Kong. He now heads up Fitzrovia’s The Tent (At the End of the Universe) and its Middle Eastern menu.

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