Crab Curry | Nandu Curry( Kulambu) Recipe| Nandu Varthearachedu Recipe
Crab Curry, Nandu Curry( Kulambu) Recipe, Nandu Varthearachedu Recipe, a south indian dish, in which crab is cooked in coconut gravy, with a kick of tamarind!!
Nandu Vartharechade, is what we call in malayalam. Almost all the curries will include coconut as their base and this is not an exception. Crab meat is healthy because of it’s low saturated fat and loaded with nutrients. Though crab eating is a tiresome job, but it’s worth the effort.
Usually restaurant style Nandu Curry will be more spicier and ‘masaledaar’. This version is on the lesser side, keeping my li’l E on mind. You can alter it according to your taste. Though I had tasted it several times, after marriage I learnt to make from my sister-in-law. She has a good hands on making all the south indian dishes.
In Kerala, we usually use gambooje for all the sea food curries for infusing a sour taste to the dish. But, in other parts of India, it is mostly replaced by tamarind because of it’s availability. Here I have used tamarind. Lets get on to the recipe and see how I make it!
How to make crab curry with step by step:
- Heat 1 tsp of oil, and fry ingredients mentioned under grinding till coconut is golden brown shown in above picture.
- Have a continuous attention and stir while roasting the masala paste ingredients. You want to evenly brown all the ingredients for roasting. Be carefull not to make it half burned and rest half uncooked while keeping an eye on it till you get the perfect colour and aroma.
- Let this cool completely before you make a paste out of it (Use little water to grind).
- Heat oil in the same pan. Throw in mustard seeds, curry leaves, sliced onion. Saute till onion are golden. Add ground paste. Cook for a minute or so.
- Add tamarind pulp, garam masala, check salt and then add crab pieces. Cover and let it cook on low flame. Crab wont take much time to cook. So, 5 minutes are enough. Soon after its done, it will have a sour taste. The color change of the paste to a darker shade will indicate that it’s done. Garnish with coriander leaves and cover it.
The aroma will fill the house and you can’t wait anymore. Do you really need to wait??!! a big YES!!
I would recommend to wait for atleast an hour or make it in advance to get the best taste out of it. This applies to all the curries which uses tamarind or gambooge in their recipes.
Though, it’s time consuming to have crab curry, breaking its shell and getting the most flesh, it’s worth the effort. It’s so indulging that you won’t realise it.
Crab Curry, South Indian Style
Ingredients
- 600 gm Crab or 2 crabs
- 1 Handful Shell onions
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- Few Curry leaves
- 1/4 lemon size Tamarind Soaked in warm water
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
- Salt
- Oil
For grinding :
- 1 no Big onion sliced
- 3/4 cup Grated coconut
- 2 tbsp Coriander seeds
- 5-6 nos Dry red chilly broken
- 1 inch Crushed ginger
- 6 nos Crushed garlic pods
- 2 tsp Oil
Instructions
- Heat 1 tsp of oil, and fry ingredients mentioned under grinding till coconut is golden brown shown in above picture. Let it cool. Grind into smooth paste using little water.
- Heat oil in the same pan. Throw in mustard seeds, curry leaves, sliced onion. Saute till onion are golden. Add ground paste. Cook for a minute or so.
- Add tamarind pulp, garam masala, check salt and then add crab pieces.
- Cover and let it cook on low flame. Crab wont take much time to cook. So, 5 minutes are enough. Soon after its done, it will have a sour taste.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and wait for atleast half an hour then serve hot with steamed rice.
Happy Cooking!