My family is full of foodies, we love food in general. We take home-cooked food a little too seriously and cook it to perfection. I don’t prefer non-veg on Tuesdays but my little one wanted seafood. We love hot piping Malvani Crab Curry during monsoons. Monsoons have officially started on the coasts so it was a pleasant day today with little rain and cold weather. Hubby surprised us with fresh crabs. Monsoons and Crabs is a match made in heaven!
I was a little upset but like always, the majority won and I had to cook crabs on a Tuesday :p. Fresh ocean crabs will now not be easily accessible due to heavy rains. I just wanted to add an easy and quick Malvani Crab Curry recipe that helps me cook the crabs to perfection. This recipe is almost the authentic version but every household has a different ratio to the whole garam masala which makes it stand out from each other. My mother-in-law cooks the best Malvani cuisine and uses a perfect ratio of whole garam masala that separates my cooking style and it is full of flavors. Crab Curry is often relished by localities here and farmers who work hard for rice farming during the monsoons. The hot flavorful curry is often consumed like hot soup before the actual meal. You can have it with some lemon or chopped onions but we prefer to drink it as it is to keep the same flavor throughout our meal.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Crabs
- Grated coconut
- Onions
- Turmeric
- Malvani Masala
- Malvani Garam Masala
- Ginger and Garlic
- Ginger Garlic Paste
- Whole Garam Masala (optional)
- Salt
- Coriander
Directions
Fry thinly sliced 2 medium-sized onions. Let it turn brown and add 1Β½ of grated coconut. Fry both until it turns brown. Add a small piece of ginger and one small garlic to this. If you have whole garam masala add two black peppers and cloves. Else you can simply add one tbsp of garam masala powder. I like to add both for the extra punch in the flavor but then you can simply just add 1Β½ tbsp of garam masala powder to balance it out.
Allow it to cool down and grind it to a fine paste. In a small pressure cooker, add oil as per your preference. Add small finely chopped onion to the hot oil, ginger garlic paste, turmeric, malvani masala, washed crabs, and salt. Mix it well. Add salt as per the crabs as we will add more later on as per the coconut gravy. Close the lid, wait for 3 to 4 whistles, and turn off the gas. Remove the lid once it cools down a little. Once it starts boiling again add the fine thick coconut gravy to this. Adjust and add salt according to the taste. The last part is adding a pinch of garam masala to the boiling gravy and turning off the gas flame once done. The last step if off course garnishing it with freshly chopped coriander. The curry is enough for 3 to 4 people, we had this for lunch and dinner but for dinner, it was thick so it tasted best with rice. This Malvani Crab Curry tastes yummy with hot rice or ragi bhakri.
Additional Tips to ace the Malvani Crab Curry
Many of them opt and do this – Wash the crab legs or here we refer to them as “denge” add them to a grinder and make a fine paste. Later sieve this and use this water as crab broth to enhance the taste. Use the water once you pressure cook the crabs in the masala. I did this but stopped it because the tamjham to sieve the water and make sure to avoid the crunchy pieces. If they are too small, I discard them and just use the claw with the crab meat.
I never knew I would say this but seafood is my favorite. Have you tried authentic Malvani Crab Curry before? If not then do give this a try!
This blog is a part of #BlogchatterFoodFest where I will write on 5 interesting food topics between 10th June 2024 to 20th June 2024. Stay tuned to read my other articles π about food.
Also, read this.
June 22, 2024 at 10:57 pm
Sounds delicious! Thanks for the recipe!