Kepiting Balado • Minangkabau Chili Crab

Kepiting Balado or Crab with Chili is a kampung dish of the Minangkabau people using resources available at their seaside villages. Other than crab, the main ingredient balado has been part of Minangkabau culinary tradition for centuries.

Minangkabau is the largest ethnic group on the huge Indonesian island of Sumatra, with their traditional homeland in the west-central highlands. Minangkabau traders have been trading between Sumatra and the Malacca Strait, since before the 7th century. Today, concentrations of Minangkabau people outside of Sumatra are found in Singapore as well as the Malaysian states of Negeri Sembilan and Johor.

The best known Minangkabau foods are rendang, nasi Padang and balado. Rendang is one of five national dishes of Indonesia (the others are gado gado, nasi goreng, soto and satay). Rendang is meat (can be beef, chicken or mutton) infused with spice and coconut milk flavours by patient slow cooking.

Nasi Padang is steamed rice eaten with many flavourful side dishes in small plates. It is named after the city of Padang, the capital of West Sumatra (the Minangkabau homeland). Padang also refer to rice fields.

Balado is a type of hot spice mixture (bumbu) unique to Minangkabau cuisine. Balado is made by stir frying ground red hot chili pepper with other spices including garlic, shallot, ginger, onion, tomato, lemongrass, kaffir lime (leaves, fruit, or both), etc., in coconut milk or palm oil.

Unlike sambal which is a dipping condiment, balado is mixed and stir fried together with main ingredients to make a dish. Balado is used with prawn (udang balado), squid (sotong balado), fish (ikan balado), chicken (ayam balado), beef (dendeng balado), eggplant (terong balado), boiled egg (telur balado) and also crab, kepiting balado.

Today, red or green chili pepper is synonymous with balado but the Minangkabau people had balado long before the Europeans brought chili pepper here in the 1500s. Before chili pepper, the Minangkabau people used peppercorn for heat. Indian traders brought peppercorn to Sumatra in the 10th century and Sumatra has been a major producer and exporter of peppercorn since the 16th century.

Kepiting Balado is traditionally made with swimmer crabs (flower crabs). Mud crabs are also used nowadays.

The swimmers or mud crabs are blanched in boiling water, grills removed, discarded, and the crab is then chopped into large pieces. These are then set aside while preparing the balado.

Balado is made by grinding chili pepper (mix of different varieties), tomato, garlic, shallot, turmeric, etc.

In Indonesia, they hand grind your balado for you at the market.

Balado together with chopped scallion, galangal (lengkuas), etc., is sautéed in oil at medium heat to release their flavours. The pungent spicy fumes can be choking in the kitchen and you can smell it a few houses away.

The blanched crabs are then added to the wok and stir fried together with the balado until the crustaceans are fully cooked and well coated with the fiery, spicy mixture.

You might wish to try Kepiting Balado when you are in Minangkabau restaurants or stalls. If you had tried before, how do you like it?

Please help me trace the origin of Kepiting Balado:

Where can I find this dish in Singapore and Malaysia?

Do you cook it at home or know someone who does?

Can you remember if your parents or grandparents or other older relatives cook it?

Please share with us in the comments 🙏

Written by Tony Boey on 19 Nov 2022

References:

Image of Minangkabau ladies courtesy of Wikipedia.