Dry Curry Crab- Tamil Style

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007

Filed Under Crab, India - Tamil Nadu, Mains, Recipes, Seafood 

This is another one of my mother-in-law’s recipes, perfected by Siv. She is a fantastic cook, but somehow I always like Siv’s versions a little better. I guess the secret ingredient makes all the difference; yeah I’m talking about “Luvvvvvv” ;). Okay, he is sitting right next to me, and I need someone to load the dishwasher.

My favorite crab preparation is the Red Curry Crab at Malay Satay Hut, our favorite Malaysian restaurant. This is a very close second. Siv made it sometime ago for a party, and I have this picture from back then. We haven’t been cooking much recently, so thought I will post this one today. I’ve been feeling bad that I started this blog to share recipes and somehow it has turned into a restaurant review site, guess it still qualifies as a food blog, huh?

Anyway, here is Siv’s version of the recipe. He just eyeballs (to quote Rachael Ray) the ingredients, so the quantities are mostly guesstimates, adjust to your desired spice level.

Ingredients

  1. 1 large size Dungeness crab
  2. 10 Red chilies
  3. 1″ Ginger
  4. 10 cloves Garlic
  5. 2 shallots
  6. 1 cup Coconut
  7. 1 tbsp Cumin
  8. 1/2 tbsp Pepper
  9. 1 tsp Fennel seeds
  10. 1″ Cinnamon
  11. 2 Tomatoes diced
  12. A few Curry Leaves
  13. Salt
  14. Oil

Method

Clean the crab and cut into 6-8 pieces. Remove the top shell.
Grind the ingredients 2-10 to make a coarse paste.
Heat oil in a frying pan and sauté the crab pieces along with the tomatoes for about 3 minutes
Add the ground masala paste to the pan and sauté for another 5 minutes
Add half a cup of water and salt to the pan, cover and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes.
Uncover, increase the heat to high, and fry it till most of the water is evaporated to form a thick gravy.
Serve it with rice.

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Comments

12 Responses to “Dry Curry Crab- Tamil Style”

  1. Asha on March 6th, 2007 12:57 pm

    Love the color!! I don’t eat Seafood much except Crab cakes if they don’t smell like fish!;D
    Great recipe,could adapt to some other meat.Thanks.

  2. keralafish on March 7th, 2007 7:05 am

    have you tried the crab rangoon dish?Its too awesome.

  3. Sig on March 7th, 2007 7:15 am

    Asha, no seafood? Do you know what you are missing? :D

  4. Sig on March 7th, 2007 7:31 am

    KF. Crab rangoon? I’ve never heard of it. Got the recipe? :)

  5. bee (jugalbandi.info) on March 7th, 2007 5:25 pm

    that’s the main thing i miss from my carnivore days - crab. your recipe looks scrumptious.

  6. Sig on March 8th, 2007 5:08 am

    Bee, I applaud anyone who would give up meat to lead a healthy life (though I could never do that, u know I “live to eat”, not the other way :-)). But seafood, isn’t it good for you girl?

  7. bee (jugalbandi.info) on March 8th, 2007 2:22 pm

    i live with a man who hates the smell of seafood. he never complains, but i know it bothers him. so i’ve decided not to cook it at home.

  8. Sig on March 8th, 2007 3:33 pm

    bee, if it is for love, yeah that I understand :).
    Siv and I (like you guys) are from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and both of us are not that much into the veg cuisine from the other person’s state, so we tend to cook a lot of meat and seafood ,both of us love both Mallu and Tamil preparations for non-veg.

  9. Hobby Cooking on March 9th, 2007 5:44 am

    Lovely Crab Recipe,
    Do visit my blog too for some interesting recipes,and dont forget to share your views,Happy Cooking….!!!


    HOBBY COOKING

  10. Reena on March 23rd, 2007 5:48 am

    Sig, I stumbled on this page from my friend Bee’s blog. Crabs are my favourite. I am a Keralite but this Crab preparation is a lot similar to the one I make. I love it.

  11. Inji Pennu on May 1st, 2007 10:32 pm

    “Okay, he is sitting right next to me, and I need someone to load the dishwasher. “

    Okay, that makes sense :):)

  12. Vanita Kriplani Anup on July 10th, 2007 6:24 pm

    My hubby loves crabs and evreytime we are at the market he keeps lookin at them..I do not know how to eat orcook or clean or do anything but just look at the crabs lying there ..waiting to be picked… guess i will try this this time.. !! Adding you to my page !

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