Poo Pad Pong Karee (Thai Stir-Fried Crab Curry)
Crab stir-fried in a mild yellow curry sauce, thickened with egg and milk until soft and custardy, with Chinese celery, spring onion and a touch of chilli jam.
- Region
- Central Thailand
- Condiments
- Fish Sauce, Oyster Sauce, Thai Soy Sauces, Nam Prik Pao
- Vegetables
- Garlic
Ingredients
- 1 live mud crab (about 800 g) or 600 g blue swimmer crabs, cleaned and chopped into pieces, claws cracked
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ½ small onion, sliced
- 1½ tbsp mild yellow curry powder
- 100 ml chicken stock or water
- 1 long red chilli, sliced diagonally
- 2 spring onions, cut into 4 cm lengths
- 1 small handful Chinese celery (kuen chai), stems and leaves cut into 4 cm lengths
- Sauce: 2 eggs
- Sauce: 120 ml evaporated milk (or whole milk)
- Sauce: 1 tbsp chilli jam (nam prik pao)
- Sauce: 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- Sauce: 1 tbsp light soy sauce or Thai seasoning sauce
- Sauce: 1 tsp fish sauce and 1 tsp sugar
- To serve: jasmine rice, and a little chilli oil (nam man prik pao) if you like
Poo pad pong karee is a Bangkok seafood-restaurant dish rather than an old court recipe: crab tossed with Indian-style curry powder, then bound in a soft sauce of egg and milk. It is rich but not heavy, and only mildly spicy. For where to eat it in the city, see our guide to the best crab curry in Bangkok.
The aim is a sauce like loose scrambled egg that clings to every piece of shell. That means taking the wok off the heat early: the egg keeps cooking in the residual heat, and a few seconds too long turns it from custard to rubber.
Method
- If using a live crab, chill it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes until it is still, then dispatch it quickly. Remove the top shell and gills, rinse, and chop the body into four to six pieces. Crack the claws with the back of a cleaver so the sauce can get in.
- Make the sauce: whisk the eggs, milk, chilli jam, oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar together in a bowl until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and fry for about 20 seconds until pale gold, then add the curry powder and stir for 10 seconds until fragrant. Don’t let it scorch or it turns bitter.
- Add the crab and onion and toss to coat in the curry oil. Pour in the stock, cover the wok and cook for 5-6 minutes, shaking it once or twice, until the shells have turned bright orange and the meat is opaque. Larger claws may need another minute.
- Uncover and turn the heat to medium. Pour the sauce over the crab and leave it for 10 seconds, then fold gently with a spatula, scraping the bottom, until it starts to set into soft, creamy curds, about 1 minute.
- Add the red chilli, spring onions and Chinese celery, fold twice more and take the wok off the heat while the sauce still looks slightly runny. Taste: it should be savoury and gently sweet, with warm spice rather than heat. Adjust with a few drops of fish sauce.
- Serve at once with jasmine rice, drizzled with a little chilli oil if you like, and with crab crackers and finger bowls on the table.
Cook’s tips
- For an easier version, use 250 g picked crab meat or soft-shell crab instead of whole crab. Skip the covered steaming step and add the meat just before the sauce.
- Curry powders vary a lot in strength. A mild Thai or Malaysian brand is closer to the restaurant flavour than a hot Indian madras blend.
- Some kitchens use coconut milk in place of evaporated milk. It works, but the sauce is less fluffy and a little sweeter.
Leonidas Georgiadis
Leonidas Georgiadis is the founder and writer of Aroy Mak Mak. He is from Greece, has been travelling in Thailand for almost twenty years and is married to a Thai wife, so Thai food is everyday family cooking in his home.
