"Singapore Chilli crabs" was the best dish I tasted in Singapore. It is called the unofficial national dish of Singapore. Recently had a craving for this dish and I went looking for crab here in Hyderabad. We dont get the kind of meaty crabs here but then had to make do with what we get here.
Looked online for Singapore Chilli crab recipes and came up with this one which is a mish mash of the different elements from recipes found online

Here is how the original dish looked

and this is how my dish looked

Method

1. Clean and scrub 3 crabs and crack the legs and claws with a spoon so that the masala can seep in. Keep aside
2. Clean and remove the skin of 2 onions and pulse it with 5-6 red chillies to a coarse paste
3. Take 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Fry the onion chilli paste till the raw smell of the onions goes off. I grated in 1 inch of ginger and 5-6 garlic pods too into this onion paste and fried it well till cooked.
4. Add paste of 2 tomatoes along with 1 tbsp tomato  puree or ketchup and saute in the onion mixture. Bring it to a boil.
5. Add 1 tsp white vinegar, 2 tsp light soya sauce, salt to taste, pinch of sugar. I also added 2 sticks of lemon grass for additional flavors. You can add some red chilli sauce too in case you prefer it hot.
6. When the paste is well cooked, add  the crabs and mix well. Add a cup of water to cover the crabs and cover and cook for 15 mins on medium flame. 
7. Beat an egg in a bowl. Now remove the lid of the crab gravy and add the egg with one hand stirring the gravy with the other. Cook for another 5 mins so that the extra water evaporate
8. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve

Here is video of one of the recipes I followed

http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/singapore-chilli-crab

I had never tried a microwave cake before. Recently  my dear friend Deepali Paul's son Ishaan Paul gave me this recipe. Tried it and is such an easy recipe that have already made it 3 times in the last 3 months. Its an extremely gooey cake (almost a brownie) and tastes really good with vanilla icecream.



Method

1. Microwave 120 gms of butter and 100 gms of dark chocolate for 1 min in a bowl and let it cool.
2. Stir in 250 gm powdered sugar in the bowl and mix well
3. Add 2 eggs one by one beating it all the time with a spoon. Stir in 1 tsp vanilla essence
4. Stir in 80 gms of maida (flour) . Add 1/4 tsp baking soda and fold them both in the chocolate mixture.
5. Stir in 50 gms of chopped walnuts. Leave some for garnishing on top.
6. Line a baking glass tray with butter and spread the mixture. Garnish with walnuts
7. Microwave for 4 mins and 30 secs. Take the cake out and let it stand for 2 mins before you cut it into pieces

Wanted to cook a good vegetarian side dish for a party the other day. Wanted to try out some recipe with bell peppers and hence decided to cook this one. The spice mix in the recipe gives it a unique rustic taste. 

Method

1. Heat a pan. Dry roast 9- 10 pepper corns, 5-6 dried red chillies, 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp fennel seeds  till the kitchen is full of the aroma from the spice mix. Add a pinch of  fenugreek leaves (Kasuri methi) and saute for a few secs and then let the spice mix cool down. Grind it to a coarse powder. Keep 2 tsp aside for garnishing.
2. Heat 2 tsp of butter in a pan. When the butter melts, add half of the above powder mix and fry well.
3. Add 1 onion cut into cubes into the pan. Fry it for some time and add 1/2 a red bell pepper and 1/2 yellow pepper. Fry well. 
4. Blanch 2 tomatoes and then puree them and add it to the pan and cook till the raw smell of tomatoes goes off.
5. Then add 1 tsp chilly powder, 1 tsp garam masala powder, salt to taste, pinch of sugar, and mix well.
6. Add 250 gms of paneer cubes and mix well. Sprinkle 2 tsp kadai masala and add pinch of crushed kasuri methi and mix well.
7. You can add cream and coriander leaves too but I skipped it.
8.  Serve with roti