Konkani Crab

I dealt with plenty of crabs in college. I had cut them open and studied their nervous and digestive systems. However, I never ate them, not until years later after I got married.

Cooking crab was always on ordeal considering that I had to cut and clean them. However, after moving to the US this main hurdle has gone because you can buy fully cleaned and even boiled crab legs at many stores (including Costco, Fred Meyers).

I picked up the recipe of Konkani Crab from one of my closest friend who is Mangalorian.

Ingredients

1. 2lbs Crab cleaned
2. 2 medium onions finely chopped
3. 2 tbsp. of minced garlic
4. Half cup shredded coconut fresh or frozen
5. One ping-pong sized tamarind soaked in half a cup of warm water
6. 1 tsp. chili powder
7. 1 tbsp. cumin powder
8. 2 tbsp. coriander powder
9. 2 tbsp. black pepper powder
10. Few curry leaves
11. 2" cinnamon stick
12. 5,6 cloves
13. Salt
14. Sugar

Procedure

Heat oil in a pan and add crabs to it. Fry till they turn pink. Remove and keep aside. Don't discard the oil as we will use the same oil for the gravy.

Temper oil with curry leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves. When the spices start popping add chopped onion and minced garlic to it. Fry till they turn golden brown. Now add the shredded coconut to it and continue frying on a low flame till you get a nice aroma of fried coconut.

Squeeze out tamarind pulp and add to the fried spices followed by chili, cumin and coriander powder. Fry till the raw smell goes away.

Add fried crabs to it and mix well so that crab pieces are well coated with spice mixture. Add water along with salt and little sugar. Adjust water level depending on the type of gravy you want. I love this dish dry so I put very little water.

Cook it for  5-10 minutes depending on the size of your crab. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle black pepper powder and keep it covered till you serve.