Han’s solution was to whip up a classic Singapore chilli crab from the Korean ingredients that would pair well with the Korean rice wine, “like drinking Tiger Beer to wash it down”.
To make the dish, he used ssamjang, tomato sauce, oyster sauce, Korean fish sauce, Korean sesame sauce, hot sauce known as “Korean death sauce”, and egg whites, along with squid and a frozen leg of crab that were in the fridge.
“I’ve been to Korea quite often and tasted ssamjang, so I kind of knew it should work, but I’d never put those things together, so it was really just pure instinct,” he recalled. “Ssamjang has garlic, shallots, chilli paste, fermented soy bean paste”, which was ideal since “there was no time to chop garlic and shallots”. To replace shaoxing wine, he used soju, and chose pickled perilla leaves to take the place of lime.
And, “Instead of mantou, I used instant rice cakes boiled in makgeolli for a bit of sweetness and creaminess, then grilled.” He also made a side dish of julienned pear wrapped in kimchi. “Towards the end, my hands were shaking because I was running out of time.”
The final dish tasted a lot like a classic chilli crab, he said, while still being “a bit different, like a Korean version.”
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