Chettinad Crab Masala - Nandu Chettinad Curry (step-wise pics updated)

Most of us will avoid cooking crab cos of the nature and look it has. Even I felt the same and I don’t want to try it. TH wants me to cook for him atleast once. So I tried it and trust me it came out really very well. It took me half an hour for making the dish and nearly an hour to eat it.  If you really have patience try it once and definitely it will make u to cook again. 

I looked at the internet for “how to clean crab” and asked recipe from amma. This is a perfect chettinad masala with all the spiciness.  We enjoyed with plain steamed rice and rasam. 

Preparation time: 20-25 mins

Cooking time: 15-20 mins

Ingredients 

½ kg Crab/Nandu

3 Onions (finely chopped)

2 tomatoes

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp chilli powder (adjust to taste)

2 tsp coriander powder/dhaniya powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

Salt (to taste)

2tbsp Oil

Coriander leaves (to garnish)

Dry roast and make a paste of

3tsp black pepper  

1tsp fennel seeds

2tsp grated coconut

How to make it

• In a pan dry roast pepper, fennel seeds. Cool and make a smooth paste of it along with coconut. Keep aside.
  

• In a kadai heat oil and fry finely chopped onions. Cook till it turns transparent.
  
• Add ginger-garlic paste. Once the raw smell goes off, add tomatoes.
• 

• Cook till the tomatoes turn gooey. Add chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt. Make a semi-gravy form by adding little water.

• Add cleaned crab to the semi-gravy masala and mix it completely.

• To the half-cooked crab add the ground paste. Cook till crab changes its color. (a pale orangish-red color) 

• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice.

Notes

1. Clean crab just before making the semi-gravy. Crab will ooze out its flavor once it is cleaned.
2. Buying a crab before a full-moon day or no-moon day is always better. The crabs caught at dat time have more flesh than the others and it tastes well also.