Crab Curry (Shell on)
Crab Curry - Shell On
This dish can be done with fresh raw crabs or cooked whole crabs. Cooking with fresh raw crabs gives a much tastier dish. Frozen uncooked crabs are available in the West in Indian and Sri Lankan shops.
This dish requires a large wide mouthed pan to cook and a lid to suit it.
Ingredients:
Crabs 4 large
Onions 2 large
Green chillies 4
Roasted curry powder 3 tablespoons
Curry leaves 10
Fennel seeds 1 teaspoon
Coconut milk or milk 3 cups
Lemon juice 2 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Oil 2 tablespoons
Ginger 1 inch piece
Water 2 cups
Murungai leaves fresh if available 1 cup
Method:
Dice onions, cut green chillies into small pieces and cut ginger into very small pieces.
Clean and divide the crabs into four pieces each. Keep the claws on.
In a large pan dry roast the fennel seeds until they turn golden, add oil and add the diced onions and fry until onions turn golden and now add the curry leaves and fry for a minute.
Add the Murungai leaves if available, washes and cleaned to this pot.
Now add the crab pieces, curry powder, salt and the water and cover and let it cook for 5 to 8 minutes.
Stir and add the milk and simmer in low fire until the liquid is reduced to half.
Add the lime juice and remove from fire.
The gravy should have reduced to a thick consistency.
Serve with: Any rice dishes
Baked crabs
You need clean empty crab shells for this dish. If you bought the dressed crabs in shells, then remove the meat and save the shells. This dish tastes like crab cutlets but without the potato and the meat is cooked in a crab shell. This was a fried dish because ovens were not available but now it is cooked in an oven. This can be a main meal.
Ingredients:
Cooked dressed crab meat 200 Gms
Onions 2 large
Eggs 2
Green Chillies 4
Salt to taste
Bread crumbs
Crab shells medium 4
Method:
Separate the white and the yolk of eggs and save both.
Dice onions and cut green chillies into small pieces.
Fry diced onions in little oil until golden and add the cut green chillies and fry further until chilli pieces are soft.
Add dressed crabs, salt, and stir well and let it cook for five minutes stirring occasionally.
Now add the yolk of the eggs and cook in low fire until all the egg has been cooked. The mixture should be dry.
Set aside to cool.
Clean the crab shells and dry them.
Fill each shell with the crab meat mixture and press with fingers tightly.
Spoon out the egg white on to the top of the crab meat and sprinkle bread crumbs over this to cover.
When the crab shells are ready, put them on an oven tray and bake them in a preheated oven at 180 C until bread crumbs turn golden.
Supervise regularly.
Note:
If you like the fried taste, boil some oil in a pan and gently slide the crab shells one by one in this oil and fry until bread crumbs turn golden.
You must have enough oil to cover the shell and meat completely.
Serve with: Steamed or boiled vegetables and potato chips, mash etc.