BLUE SOFT SHELL CRAB (and shrimp) MALABAR CURRY pp. 112-113
Ok, this one was a scorcher.
A labor of love made over the course of this afternoon, my rainy day project. I ground toasted Kashmiri chiles for this. I needed 3 T. of ground chiles. I think my bag must have been particularly hot, because between the ground chiles and the split serranos I added for the green chiles it called for, we ended up with a very, very hot end result. Hot enough that BF, who is generally ok with hot food looked at me at the end of dinner and said, “That was hot!” I have a lovely endorphin buzz, currently.
You start with a sauteed base of tomatoes, ginger, garlic, onions, green chiles, ground chiles, Madras curry powder, turmeric, and ground coriander. Then you add water to cover (I also added a little salt at this point). If you were using your blue crab, you would add it at this stage too. Let it simmer for about 25 minutes covered, stirring occasionally. Then, add ground toasted coconut that you’ve turned into a paste with some water (it wants 2 cups of fresh coconut. I used 3 oz. desiccated that I toasted and then rehydrated and ground). Also, add curry leaves, ground fennel seed, black pepper, and garam masala. This is the stage I added my shrimp (not in the recipe) that I’d dusted with salt, turmeric, and chile powder. While those simmer together, I pan fried a couple soft shell crabs that I’d dusted with Wondra, chile powder, turmeric, and salt. Everything finished at about the same time. While I rested the crab on a couple paper towels, I stirred cilantro and a little more salt into the finished curry. We had this with basmati rice.
We liked this. I think it will benefit from a night in the fridge to let things blend and mellow a little. The soft shell crab was delightful, if a little overwhelmed by the sauce. The shrimp held up well to it. Have lots of rice or parathas on hand for the sauce!
