Meat Crab Claypot

Ingredients

• 500 g meat crab (recommended in priority: Myanmar black crab, mud crab, swimming crab, Chinese mitten crab)
• 200 g prawns
• 450 g potatoes
• 200 g rice cakes
• 100 g onion
• 20 g garlic
• 15 g ginger
• 5 g dried chillies
• 30 g green pepper
• 30 g red pepper
• 20 g oyster sauce
• 30-50 ml vegetable oil
• 15 g seafood sauce
• 15 g soybean paste
• 10 g sweet bean sauce
• 10 g tomato sauce
• 40 g cornstarch
• 10 g rock sugar
• 3 g chicken essence
• 2 g white pepper powder
• 15 ml rice wine
• 20 ml light soy sauce
• 5 ml dark soy sauce
• 200 ml beer
• 800 ml water

Method

The claypot is your heat engine and emulsifier. The vessel's thermal mass — thicker ceramic than any domestic cookware — holds temperature aggressively once it climbs, which concentrates the sauce and coats the protein rather than drowning it. This is why you don't use a wok.

Cut potatoes into 3 cm cubes and soak them in cold water for 15 minutes to leach surface starch, then drain well. Cut rice cakes into 1 cm slices. Slice onions into 3 cm crescents with the grain to keep them intact through the simmer. Cut peppers into 4 cm diamonds — the angle matters because it catches the sauce and presents the surface area properly. Coat crab pieces (50–80 g each, legs and claws separated from body) very lightly in cornstarch — excess flour turns gluey — and deep-frying|deep-fry at 180 °C for 90 seconds only. The crab doesn't need cooking through; you're building colour and setting the exterior. Drain on kitchen paper.

Set your claypot over medium heat with 30 ml oil. Mince garlic (20 g), ginger (15 g) and dried chillies (5 g) separately — don't make paste. Add them to the oil and stir constantly for 90 seconds until the raw edge vanishes and you smell sweetness, not sharpness. Add soybean paste, sweet bean sauce, oyster sauce, and tomato sauce in that order, stirring for 2 minutes over low heat. The mixture should deepen to brick-red as the sugars caramelise slightly; if it blackens, you've scorched the bottom — the sourness from umami|soy-based-sauce turns unpleasant. Add 10 g rock sugar and stir until dissolved.

Return heat to medium-high. Add the fried crab, potatoes, and prawns (whole, not split). Pour 200 ml beer and 800 ml water — the liquid should barely cover the solids. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce to a steady simmer for 12 minutes. The potatoes should be tender but not collapsing; test with a fork. Add rice cakes and peppers, increase heat to high, and reduce the sauce until it clings to everything — you'll see the oil separate slightly at the edges and the sauce coat each piece thickly, about 4–5 minutes. Season with light soy (20 ml), dark soy (5 ml), seafood sauce (15 ml), and chicken essence (3 g). Finish with white pepper powder and a splash more rice wine if the sauce needs brightness. Serve in the claypot while it's still bubbling at the table.