"Kurle' Alle' Piyava Gashi / Crab Ginger Onion Curry" served with Ukde SheetHa (Red Boiled Rice) ... A simple delicious crab curry with the strong flavor of ginger and onions from the Konkani Saraswat Cuisine … Try it, it tastes fantastic when served either with boiled rice, naan, paratha or even our own pan polo my favorite combination for this one … Yummilicious ...
** Crabs are called Kurlo in Saraswat Konkani Household. They are known as Kekda in Hindi, Kekhra in Marathi, Denji in Tulu and Nandu in Tamil as far as I know. These are known to be rich in Vitamin A, C, particularly B12 of Vitamin B and minerals like zinc and copper. Also a rich source of selenium and chromium. So I guess these are good for health specially bones. Crabs have an intense flavour of their own. When cooked the gravy of the dish is mingled with its own juices and gives it the most awesome flavour that no other fish gives. And trust me, it taste that much better the next day or after resting in its own gravy for 12 hours.
** Cleaning and preparing them to edible way is difficult and you need to learn about it properly or it is best got done with your fish vendor. In Mangalore, the method of cleaning was different than now here in Mumbai. Here if I tell them to retain the smaller claws and remove the back portion only, many just do not know it and simply remove all the leg / claws of the same and then the back. In Mumbai they grind the small claws in water, strain and add it to the curry which initially I was reluctant to try out, but this time since he had removed them all I decided to give it a try and I must say addition of that ground water adds immense taste to the curry.
** I will not run into more details, but add in a common link at the bottom of this recipe, for your to check up on the other few recipes posted before in the blog. Both taste awesome and loved by all my friends and family too. You can serve crab curry, any crab curry for that matter with panpolo/neer dosa and the combination is simply awesome. Do try out different types of curries and enjoy with your family and friend if crabs are available in your vicinity. There are two types of crabs available, the black and the whitish red ones. Though you can use either of them as they are equally tasty, but the black ones are that much more tastier and filled with more flesh.
** Here is my simple method of preparing "Kurle' Alle' Piyava Gashi / Crab Ginger Onion Curry" … My Style …
** Clean 3-4 large sized crabs, separate the claws and remove the hard shelled back and clean the inner stomach properly. Do not throw away the hard back shell cover, wash and retain the same along with the other crab pieces and add them also into the curry, they give an awesome flavor to the curry when cooked.
** You may watch any You tube video for the same or closely watch how it’s done by your fish vendor. Wash in plenty of water and keep aside ready. Crush the large main claws with a heavy weight to bring one or two cracks in the shell. This will help you when eating the crab to break it with teeth, also the flavor gets imparted into the curry by doing so.
** Add all the small claws / legs of the crabs into a mixer grinder and grind to a fine paste with 2-3 cups of water or as much as needed to make a thick fine paste. Remove and strain this through a very fine sieve taking care to see that you collect only the water, discard the leftover residue.
** Note : I have no knowledge if grinding of the small claws is followed in southern parts as in Mangalore or in my parents home we never heard of this procedure. We always retained the smaller claws along with the halved crab intact. This is a method followed in Mumbai, and I have tried this out for the first time, but it tastes great. Unfortunately I forgot to click a snap, which I will do so the next time and share here.
** For the Masala : Grind 2 heaped cups of coconut with 12-15 red kashmiri chilly and a small marble sized ball of tamarind to a very fine paste. The paste should be ground very finely. Remove and add the ground paste to the crabs prepared and kept ready in the vessel.
** In a wide thick bottomed vessel add in the washed, cleaned crabs, the claws, the shell back and the ground and strained small claws water. To this add in the ground paste and mix well. Add in water if required to bring to a thick gravy consistency.
** Keep the vessel on a medium heat and bring to a boil, when the curry comes to a boil lower the heat add in 4-5 green chilly cut lengthwise, 1 large sized onion chopped finely, 1-2 inch length of ginger grated finely or cut into julienne's.
** Also add salt to taste, mix well and bring the curry to a full boiling point. Lower the heat and cook till done. Lastly add in 2 tablespoon of coconut oil to the curry, cover and keep it aside for a few hours to settle down and seep in flavors. It always tastes delicious after a few hours or resting time.
** "Kurle' Alle' Piyava Gashi / Crab Ginger Onion Curry" is done and ready to be served. I served the curry with Ukde SheetHa / Red Boiled Rice. However, it tastes equally good with naan, paratha or roti too. In fact it tastes great with panpolo / neer dosa. Do try out this dish and enjoy with your family and friends.
** Note : Fish curry always tastes great after a resting period of minimum 4-6 hours. Some curries taste better when kept overnight too. This particular curry tastes great if kept aside and served after 6-8 hours. However, you may choose to relish it immediately too.
** I am sharing a common link for "Crab" curry below, which you can check out for other methods of cooking crabs.
** An Earnest Request : There are many more recipes of different types in the blog. For all my Recipes, use the search option or the label section in the Blog. If you are still not able to find it or have a query, please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Do try out various types of dishes included in the Blog and Enjoy them with your family and friends and do give me a feedback if possible.
** I am happy to inform you that I have also started a food group for by the name "KONKANI DELICACIES" which is over and year old, with about 19K strong members. It is a pleasure to inform that you will find in the group many more recipes posted by our expert members and you too can share some of your own. The link to the group is posted on the left side of the blog page. Do join us in our culinary journey. I strongly believe in Sharing and always endorse that "Sharing Is Caring" … Thank You ….
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