Monday, November 6, 2006

World's Best Crab Curry




By my Mom, of course. The curry is coconut based, grinded fine with chilly, turmeric, tamarind, cummin, coriander, pepper etc etc. Standard Costal recipe. But Ah the delicious, soft, almost salty meat to be sucked out of the bulky long shell. Or to be scooped out. Or gently coaked out cm by cm by teeth.

There are some bad side-effects as well. Any pointed edge might hurt the tongue; gotto be careful there. And then those heat burnings in the mouth, after few hours. But the worst is - so less output for so much mehnat (hardwork). Nevertheless, I am waiting our next session.

After 12 years of vegetarianism, when I decided to cross-over, it was only to seafood. I tried chicken. My Mom's chicken curry is another delicious aromatic dish everyone swears by. But I didn't get much from the taste. Nah. It's only Fishdom for me.

Crab also reminds me of the Scallops I had in 'Vicky's Palace' in Montreal. Both in color & taste. Yumm. I don't think we get them here. Sigh. So I will stick Crabs for now.

Update: Here is the Recipe, my Mom finally managed to explain to me. Here is whatever little I understood. I hope it turns out just like hers. All the best.

Ingredients:
1 kg Crabs
Half coconut
10 whole dry Red chillies
3 tsp whole Coriander seeds (Dhaniya)
1 tsp Cummin (Jeera)
1/4 Mustard seeds (Rai/Sarson)
1 pinch Fenugreek seed (Methi)
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder (Haldi)
1 lemon-sized ball of Tamarind
4 cloves of Garlic

Method:
Heat a little oil on a Tava, and roast the above stuff (except Crabs) lightly. Maybe 5 minutes.
Then grind it all to fine paste. Not very liquidy.
Slice 1/2 Onion and sprinkle on this paste.
salt to taste.
Boil this paste in a deep bowl. Maybe 15 minutes.
Add Crabs one by one.
Continue to boil till crab color changes to red. Maybe 10 minutes

Now it's ready to serve 6 people ! Enjoy !

7 comments:

HP said...

aah...Crab Curry..Spend quite a few Sunday afternoons savouring these :-)

Once when I was at my aunt's place in Mangalore, I remember having crabs for three days in a row and no one else was allowed to have it :-)

But, unlike you, now I have turned to vegetarianism..so, no more crab-curries,kori-rotties and gassies..
If ever in Mumbai, do visit Trishna/Mahesh Lunch Home for some quite yummy seafood..

Have been a reader for quite some time but never commented but crabs made me do it :-)

Keep Inking!!

Cheers,
HP

Prithi Shetty said...

Thanks HP.

Oh definitely agree with you about all those mouth-watering dishes. Not to forget neer dosa & kori rasa.

Anonymous said...

Please don't post Non-veg posts on your blog, people can't even see such type of things, I don't know how someone might be ... it.
I don't want to comment on what should you eat or not, but would say just try to think the animals also have life.
There are lot of Vegiterian delicious food stuff available in this whole world so why should one go for those things?
There are some contries where there are no fruits grown, some cities have extermly low climate etc. and those countries since they didn't had anything good to eat started to eat whatever they could see, but for god's sake, please atleast attempt to think in the other direction.
being a woman, "Matrutava" (motherhood) is a big feeling pesent in everyone of us, and looking in that aspect, it can give an inspiration.

Bye

Lotus Reads said...

Ok, now you've got me hungry for lunch and it's only 0830 here! :)

Will your mom ever consent to give her recipe to your readers? I'd be first in line for it if she does!

Prithi Shetty said...

I guess I should get the recipe. I vaguely know what goes in. I have seen it all. But I doubt it will turn fine wihout the exact measurments. I will get the recipe out asap.

Lotus Reads said...

Thanks so much, Prithi, really looking forward to it!

Lotus Reads said...

Ohhhhhh, Prithi, this sounds wonderful, thank you so much! Do give your mom a big hug from me! This weekend I will try to go to the Chinese market to buy some crabs - I have never bought Crab in Canada before, this will be a first! :)

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