Butter Garlic Pepper Crabs

Crabs are my utmost favourite .I just binge on it when its made .We normally make Crab curry and i enjoy eating crabs with Hand breads .Some months ago I tasted Butter Garlic Pepper Crabs in a restaurant and absolutely loved it.
I browsed  for the recipe and found this recipe from Chang's.com and it was very similar to one I tasted .So I gave it a try with some changes in the original recipe .I added lots of garlic and also added fresh  tender garlic since its available in plenty in the market now.I used both green and the cloves and it tasted just too good it was much better than the one we tasted in the restaurant .It went very well with butter garlic rice.

Ingredients:
1 kg Crabs cleaned and cut into 2 pieces each
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp freshly crushed black pepper
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
2-3 green chilli slitted
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1 tsp oregano
5 -6 garlic cloves crushed
3-4 spring onion green and onion chopped fine
4-5 stalks of fresh tender  garlic chopped finely .(i used both the green and the garlic)
1 cup stock.
1/2 tsp sugar
salt to taste.

Method:

Clean the crabs well from inside discard the legs but use the fangs/claws.

You could use the legs to make a stock .Grind the legs with little water  then strain it discard the shells we just need the strained pulp .Add half cup of water and a pinch of salt and bring it to a nice boil ,the stock is ready to use.

Cut into 2 each and Wash the crabs .I have kept 1 crab whole i cleaned  it from inside and then tied it with a string.

Heat oil and butter in a Wok and fry the crabs and the fangs well in batches till they turn orange .

Remove the crabs and keep aside.

In the same wok add the crushed garlic cloves and fry well then add the fresh tender  garlic and fry for 2 minutes on low flame.

Add the slitted chillies and fry well.

Now add the spring onions and fry till the onions are translucent .

Mix the sauces and the pepper  and the sugar then add 1 cup stock and the crabs and cover the lid and cook on medium heat and let it come to a nice boil then simmer and cook for 7-10 minutes.

The sauce will begin to thicken then add the chilli flakes and oregano and mix well.

Add salt only if required .

Garnish  with spring onions and fresh garlic greens ad serve hot with some herbed/Garlic rice or with Hakka noodles.

Note:
I used fresh tender garlic since i like the taste of it If you cannot find it you could use the normal garlic only and omit the fresh tender garlic.
Adding oregano and chilli flakes is optional.
You could even add water instead of the stock.