Black pepper crab with curry leaves

Chilli crab is Singapore’s fave wokked mollusc, and comes in all guises. This one I unearthed in a food hall, and with a touch of India about its gills, it’s gorgaous. Every nook, cranny and hollow yields the sweetest - sometimes meagre, sometimes generous - morsels. It’s a slow-picking game, so the pleasure comes in little doses and spurts; hands-on stuff, which demands constant licking, so finger bowls and wipes at the ready, and that bowl of regular rice.