“Crab (Kurlo/ Khekda) Masala” … here is my own twist of another delicious crab curry infused in aromatic flavors … tastes fantastic served either with boiled rice, plain rice, roti or panpolo (neer dosa) … Yummilicious ...
** Mention crabs and the claws comes bang on into mind, which is the only difficult thing about this sweetish in taste shellfish variety known as Kurlo, Khekda, Crab Shellfish, Nandu, Denji in different languages. I have written all of how much I know about them in my previous posts hence will not repeat it out again here. I will be sharing a common link to all crab dishes blogged before at the bottom of this recipe, you can just browse through for more.
** I had been wanting to buy crabs for some time now and today I just happened to chance on it and that’s it without further thought I just bought them fresh and cleaned with claws removed by my fish vendor. After giving some thought, I felt I must try out something new instead of my repetitive few old recipes. Just vent about with whatever popped up in my mind and I must say I passed with flying colors when hubby gave me full 10/10 for this one.
** I have kept the recipe simple, just fried all ingredients in oil and then ground the masala, further fried it a bit and added on the crabs and cooked them till done, that’s it. The aroma filled my home and we just could not wait for lunchtime. I served it with red boiled rice along with pedvo (sardine) masala fried fish and it was blissful that I somehow keep feeling its Sunday meal while it’s just Wednesday. Do try it out and relish with either roti/ parathas/ rice.
** Here is my very own recipe for “Crab (Kurlo/ Khekda) Masala” … My Style …
** Ingredients :
Crabs/ Kurlo/ Khekda/ Denji : 4-5 large sized.
Coconut/ Soyi/ Nariyal : 1 cup
Desiccated Coconut/ Khobre/ Khobra : ½ cup
Malvani Masala Powder : 2 tblsp or any other curry masala powder.
Coriander Seeds/ Kottambari/ Dhania : 2 tblsp
Cumin Seeds/ Jeera : 1 tsp
Fennel Seeds/ Badisep/ Saunf : ¼ tsp
Poppy Seeds/ Cus Cus/ Khus Khus/ Gasagase : 1 tblsp
Green Cardamom/ Yellu/ Ellaichi : 3
Black Pepper Corns/ Mire/ Miri : 1 tsp
Cinnamon/ Tike Saal : 3 inch – 1 piece
Cloves/ Lavang/ Laung : 5
Green Chillies/ Tarni Mirsanga/ Hari Mirchi : 2-3 spicy ones.
Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbevu : 6 + 8 fresh leaves.
Kashmiri Mirchi/ Kumte Mirsanga/ Byadgi Mirchi : 4-5
Ginger/ Adrak/ Alle’ : 1 inch piece
Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 4-6
Onion/ Piyau/ Kanda : 2-3 medium sized.
Tamarind/ Chinchama/ Imly : one small marble sized
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
Oil/ Tel/ Tela : 3 + 2 tblsp
** Clean large sized crabs, separate the claws and remove the hard shelled back and clean the inner stomach properly in plenty of water. 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 You tube video for the same or closely watch how it’s done by fish vendors. 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/ cloth taking care to see that you collect only the water, discard the leftover residue, there should be no fine pieces of claws whatsoever.
** 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.
** Heat 2 tblsp oil in a kadai/pan, when hot lower the heat to medium, add in coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, cus cus, green cardamom, black pepper corns, cinnamon, cloves, green chillies cut into pieces, 6 curry leaves and kashmiri mirchi and fry till you get a nice aroma and ingredients are well fried. Remove and keep it in a plate.
** Now in the same kadai add in another tablespoon of oil and add in ginger, garlic, onion all three chopped to small pieces and fry on medium heat till the onion turns translucent and lightly brownish in color. Remove and add this ingredients in plate.
** Add in the dessicated coconut in the same kadai and fry till it turns lightly in color, be careful and do not burn it or turn it brown in color. We just need it roasted well, add in all the ingredients fried and kept in the plate and mix well along with the fresh coconut and mix all together and continue frying for another 2-3 minutes only.
** Immediately add in the malvani masala powder or any curry masala powder and tamarind and mix well. Remove and keep it aside and let cool a little bit, then add into a mixer grinder and grind to a very smooth paste with water as is needed. Do not add water in excess, we need a smooth thick textured ground masala, so be careful with water addition.
** In a wide thick bottomed vessel heat 2 tblsp oil, add 8 curry leaves, the ground masala and fry for a minute or two. Add cleaned crabs, claws, shell back and strained small claws water, salt to taste, required amount of water to bring the gravy the a thick consistency and mix well. Cook on a medium heat and bring to a boil, when the curry comes to a full boil lower the heat to minimum and simmer for another 5-7 minutes. Remove, cover and keep it aside for an hour to settle down and seep in flavors, as it always tastes delicious with some resting time.
** “Crab (Kurlo/ Khekda) Masala” is done and ready to be served. I served the curry with Ukde SheetHa/ Red Boiled Rice along with sardine (pedvo) masala fries. 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. I served this curry after resting time of 4 hours and it tasted excellent served with red boiled rice. However, you may choose to relish it immediately too, as it is always individual choice and preferences.
** I am sharing a common link for "Crab/ Kurlo" curry below, which you can check out for other methods of cooking crabs.
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