Crab curry

Crab curry                                                                          

Ingredients:

Crabs 6-7

For  marination
Garlic 6-7
Ginger 1/2 inch
Coriander 1 cup
Salt 1/2 Tsp
Turmeric 1 Tsp

For onion masala
Onion 6-7
Garlic 1/4 cup
Tomato 2
Ginger 1 inch
Dry grated coconut 1+1/2 cup

For crab curry
Kolhapuri kanda lasun chutney 3+1/2 Tbsp
Garam masala 1+1/2 Tsp
Salt as per taste
If you don't have kolhapuri kanda lasun chutney then ingredients would be as below :
Red chilli powder 3+1/2 Tbsp
Garam masala 2 +1/2Tsp
Salt as per taste

Procedure:
Cleaning crab
Always take a big crab and it should be alive and properly walking just check for these two things i usually prefer black crab it is very tasty than the red one we get here in mumbai.
There are two ways of cleaning :

1. Take a live crab and put it in boiling water for 60 sec it would get killed and then it out from hot water and pluck the gills/legs and pull out the carapace/shell and wash it thoroughly under running water discard unwanted pink/yellow/orange coloured flesh you get to see after opening the carapace/shell
2. Take a live crab pull out its gills/legs. The legs in upper and stomach portion are used for making curry as it contains much flesh and the rest legs at bottom which are used by crab for walking and are thin in size gather them all and grind in mixture to form a fine paste and sieve them and take out the juice and add this juice to curry. Now for cleaning the stomach portion pull out carapace/shell of the crab. The carapace/shell contains yellow or bit brownish part it is meat you can preserve it for adding in curry but personally i don't use it as it just adds to extra fats. When shell is opened the gills and guts are visible as shown in below images. Discard the orange or bit brownish portion in the guts of crab shown in below images.In short discard every flesh you get to see after opening shell of crab which is not white in colour. clean the crab under running water. Now the crab is cleaned thoroughly and is ready for use.

Making onion masala 

1. Firstly peel off the onion,ginger and garlic clean with water and start chopping them.
2. Chop 6-7 medium sized onions into thin wedges and chop ginger and tomatoes in cubes and keep garlic as it is.
3. Now heat up a non stick pan at low temperature put 1 tbsp oil and when its is warm enough add all chopped onion,ginger and garlic and caramalise them together at low flame until they are dark brown as shown in below images. Keep on stirring in between.Now when done  take them out and in the same pan add chopped tomatoes and caramalise them until they turn soft meanwhile take 1+1/2 cup grated dry coconut and roast it at low flame on a dry frying pan. Take atmost care that coconut is not burnt else it would spoil the taste of onion masala.keep on stirring continuosly. When grated dry coconut turns brown in colour take it out in a plate.
4. Now in a dry mixer firstly grind dry roasted  coconut into a fine paste then add roasted onion,garlic and tomatoes and grind them all together into a super fine paste.
5. This onion masala can be used for making any meat curry or vegeterian curry recipes.

Making crab curry

1. Firstly marinate the cleaned crab with 1/2 tsp salt and turmeric meanwhile make the second marinate for that grind garlic,ginger and coriander into a coarse paste and apply this marinate to crab (stomach and legs both) and keep it aside for 10-15 min.
2. Heat up a 5 lit cooker at medium flame and Pour 1/3 cup oil in it. When it gets heated add 1 finely chopped onion caramalise it then directly add 3+1/2 tbsp kolhapuri kanda lasun chutney, 1+1/2 tsp garam masala and salt as per taste in hot oil and stir it continuosly else it would get burnt it helps in getting red colour for the curry making it tempting we call it tavang in marathi. You can get this kolhapur chutney in any maharashtrian grocery store if you don't have it just add red chilli powder instead 3+1/2 tbsp red chilli powder and 2+1/2 tsp garam masala and salt as per taste roast this masala's in oil and add 1 cup onion masala depending upon thickness of curry you want.
3. Now roast the onion masala until oil starts leaving the surface of cooker.
4. When onion masala is roasted properly add marinated crabs alongwith its gills/legs mix them properly with the roasted onion masala close the cooker with steel plate for a while then remove the plate saute for a while and nearly pour about 500 ml hot boiling water in the cooker. Do not forget to add crab juice of legs which you had sieved earlier then close the cooker and let it shimmer on medium flame.
5. Take out 5-6 whistles and let the cooker cool down.
6. Yummy crab curry is ready to be served