I remember tasting extremely delicious crab when we were in Malaysia. The sauce it came with was both sweet and hot at the same time. After searching around a bit I found this recipe which seemed to be doing what I needed. And with some modifications, I now have an excellent recipe for crab. I can’t say if it is exactly like the one we tasted in Malaysia, but it is definitely very yummy. I was really scared of working with live crabs ! I didn’t know how exactly to handle it and since it was the first time I was cooking crab I didn’t want to take any risks. However the only reason I didn’t use live crabs was that Central Market, where we usually buy sea food had no live ones today 😛 Jokes apart although I was glad that I could just buy some cooked crab in the shell, I am sure this recipe will be tastier if you can cook it with live crab. But fortunately we could still taste the juices in the shell!
1.5 lb crab
4 anise seeds
oil
1 medium red onion chopped
10 curry leaves
salt
For spice paste :
1 small tomato chopped
2 medium shallots chopped
2-3 sprigs green onion chopped
3 clove garlic
1 inch ginger
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tbsp sugar
6 red chillies
15-20 curry leaves (~from 2 stems)
1/2 stalk lemon grass chopped
Put the ingredients for the paste in a processor/grinder and grind to make a paste. In a pan fry the chopped red onion and curry leaves in some oil. In a deeper vessel heat some oil, throw in the anise seeds and then fry the paste for a minute. Add the crab and some water to get the desired consistency and simmer on medium heat for 2 minutes. Then add the fried onions and curry leaves. Add salt to taste and more sugar or tamarind paste if required. Serve with steamed rice ! Yummy goodness!
The Manna Log 