Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Crab Curry

I am back...after more than a year. This time I really hope I will post more often than I did before. Today we got crabs, which were cooked by my mom, and they were so delicious that I decided that I had to put it here. The crabs were huge and so tasty. This is a Bengali style curry and spicy. Do not grind the red chillies to avoid a spicy gravy.

Ingredients:
Crab: 2kgs
Onion: 4 medium
Potato: 3 medium
Ginger: 1 1/2 inch
Garlic: 15 flakes
Tomato: 2
Red Chilly: 4
Bay Leaves: 4
Corriander Powder: 2tsp
Cumin Powder: 2tsp
Turmeric Powder: 2tsp
Garam Masala powder: A pinch
Salt: As per taste

Method:
1. Clean the crabs well.
2. Apply salt and turmeric powder to the crabs and keep aside.
3. Soak half of the the red chilly in a bit of water so that it makes grinding easy.
Cooking
4. Chop half of the onions and all of the tomatoes. Cut the potatoes in big chunks. 
5. Grind the rest of the onion, ginger, garlic and the soaked red chilly to a fine paste.
6. Fry the potatoes in a bit of oil and keep aside.
7. Fry the crabs and keep aside.
8. In hot oil, add the bay leaves the rest of the red chillies.
9. When they splutter, add the chopped onion and saute lightly.
10. Add the potatoes and let it cook a bit.
11. Then add the paste and bhuno by sprinkling water. (To bhuno means to fry spices and/or meat over a medium to high heat.)
12. Next add the chopped tomatoes and saute a bit.
13. Then add the turmeric powder, corriander powder, cumin powder and salt. Bhuno a bit more.
14. Add water to the mixture and let it boil. Once it starts boiling, add the crabs.
15. Cover it and let it cook for at least 15 minutes.
16. When the mixture thickens, add the garam masala powder and cook for two more minutes.