Crab Curry (Oriya Style) : ''Kankada Tarkari''

To start with, Kankada = Crab (as called in Oriya).

I had never cooked crabs in my life until this day. All my childhood I had seen my grand mother cook them for us. Generally in India people buy live crabs. So what my granny would do is hold the live crabs with chimta / pakkad (basically a tong) and put them in a big pot of boiling water. That is how the cooking process starts. Eating crab is definitely a tedious job, unless you eating only the crab meat, but where is the fun there. These days they have such accessories which make breaking and eating crab much easier. Moreover if you eating it at home, who do you have to bother about and feel conscious of - dig in both your hands and have a royal treat. Crab meat tastes very different and tasty. It also has quite high levels of cholesterol, so watch out, once in a blue moon is ok though!!

Here in USA cooking crabs is much easier as the ones that we get in the supermarkets are nicely cleaned, processed and ready to be directly cooked. No ''granny-steps'' needed!!

The other day we had been out and while we got back to our apartment I smelt lovely aroma of crab curry and there was this urge to eat crab curry. Schnucks - the local supermarket here in St. Louis has daily stock of crab - I don't have much idea about the varieties though. It was the weekend so I got a pound of the nicest looking crab the next day :):), the full crab.

Not that I knew or had planned on how to cook it, but still I was pretty enthusiastic..I gave Abhishek the disclaimer that in the end we might just end up disliking it..I made it and by the end of it, the lovely aroma was what I was longing for and without even tasting it I knew I got what I wanted!!

All that I used:

(Serves 2-3)

• Crab - 1

• Potato - 1

• Onion - 1

• Bay leaf - 1

• Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tbsp

• Coriander powder - 1 tsp

• Cumin powder - 1 tsp

• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

• Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

• Garam masala powder

• Mustard oil - about 2 Tbsp

• Salt - to taste

• Water - about 2 cups

How I made it :

• Get the crabs cleaned (in case they are not cleaned and processed when you bought them).

• Break into smaller pieces (unless you want to cook the crab as a whole). There is no proper way that I know of in which you could do this. All I did was separated the claws.

• Take a large potato and cut it into medium sized cubes.

• Heat some of the oil in a pan and fry the potatoes in it for about 5 minutes on medium heat, till they turn golden brown. 

 

• Take them out and keep aside.

• Chop the onion.

• Heat the remaining oil in the same pan. Add the bay leaf and the onion. Stir fry for about a minute.

• Add the ginger garlic paste.

• Add in all the masala powders - coriander, cumin, turmeric and red chilly.

• Mix well. Keep the heat on medium.

• In about 5 minutes the masala would have cooked nicely and the pungency of the ginger garlic paste would have gone. Add salt to taste.

• Add in about a cup and half of water. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil.

• Once the gravy starts boiling, dip in the sautéed potatoes and the crab pieces. Mix it all nicely and now reduce the heat to low-medium.

• Cover it and let it simmer for about ten minutes - the crabs need to get cooked and also the gravy needs to get deep into it. Keep uncovering and stirring in between, but carefully making sure that you are turning the pieces slowly. Even the potatoes were semi-cooked so they might break.

• Sprinkle the garam masala.

• If you want more of the gravy (or feel it is little less), then add in another half cup of water.

• Cook for about another 3-5 minutes. Switch off as it should be ready now.

Keep some plain rice ready.Best way to eat it with steaming hot plain white rice. Some people 

like it with plain roti as well. There is no need for any other side dish when you have this crab curry on the menu. Dig in both your hands, savour the lovely crab meat and its juicy gravy!!

Note :

• Don't leave any part of the crab unopened as it may have some of that tasty meat hidden deep inside it. You should be easily able to crack it open up the pieces without the help of any of those fancy tools.

• Serve with some cut fresh onions and green chillies may be.

Aalu Tamatar Tari (Potato & Tomato Curry)

This is yet another simple and quick recipe which is made with potatoes and tomatoes and some basic masala. You can eat this with any Indian bread or rice. It has a thin gravy so will go nicely with rice even without any dal. Lot of people make it without onions so that they can eat the days they fast. It will also go nicely with puri.

How did I end up making it?? One day there was hardly anything in the fridge but tomatoes and few potatoes and I was running short of time to make and pack lunch for Abhishek (you know how Monday mornings can be)...So somehow I made this curry and of course some rice. I kept some gravy as there was no time for making dal etc. Of course it did not taste exotic, but it was a nice change and can be used as a regular food item. Since I made it in such a haste I did not take any step-wise pictures, but I did manage to take few of them once the curry was ready. 

Just so you know,

Aalu = Potato

Tamatar = Tomato

Tari = Gravy based dish / curry

(as called in Hindi) 

All that you need :

(Serves 2-3)

• Potato - 2

• Onion - 1

• Tomato - 2

• Green chilly - 2

• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

• Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

• Coriander powder - 1 tsp

• Cumin powder - 1 tsp

• Cooking oil - 1 Tbsp

• Salt - to taste

How you can make it :

• Take a small / medium sized onion. Cut it into thing slices.

• Heat oil in a small kadhai. Keep it on medium heat.

• Add the onions. Cover it and let it get cook for about 1 minute.

• The onions will have become softer.

• Slice the green chillies into 2 along the length and add them. Mix.

• Wash and peel the potatoes.  Cut them into small cubes.

• Toss them into the kadhai now. Mix well and cover.

• Cook for about 3-4 minutes, occasionally uncovering to stir the potatoes. Since we have cut them into small sized pieces, they will get cooked soon. 

• Cut the tomatoes into small (not tiny) cubes. Add them.

• Add in all the masalas - turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander and cumin powder. Add salt according to taste. Mix well. 

• Cover again and cook for about 2-3 minutes this time.

• Check the potatoes, they should be almost done.

• Add about 1 and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil by raising the heat to high.

• Reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook for about 2 minutes. Switch off after that.

Your potato and tomato curry is ready!!

Fish Curry with a touch of Tamarind

This is basically a dish from the Southern part of India (state of Andhra Pradesh). I was wondering how it would taste but then I went ahead and made it. It was definitely a little different from the usual fish curried I have eaten and it tasted good. So go ahead and try it..

I used the canned / processed tamarind paste and Catfish fillets (I know I keep coming to this one even though there are plenty of variety out there!!). By now you know I somehow always pick up fillets as it saves me the time of cleaning and cutting the fish :):). You may go ahead and use any fish, and it is better if you get the whole fish..

This dish (unlike many other fish curries) does not need the fish to be fried before it goes into the sauce, so comparatively it uses less oil..The raw fish gets cooked directly with the sauce.

All that you will need :

(Serves 4)

• Fish - about 2 lbs

• Onion - 1

• Ginger - 1 inch piece

• Garlic - 4-5 pods

• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

• Green chilly - 2

• Dry red chilly - 2

• Tamarind paste - 1 Tbsp

• Turmeric paste - 1/4 tsp

• Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

• Garam masala - 1 tsp

• Lime juice - 1 Tbsp

• Coriander leaves - some, for garnishing

• Water - for the gravy

• Salt - to taste

• Cooking Oil - 3 Tbsp

How you can make it :

• Wash and clean the fish, take out the tails / fins etc. and cut into pieces of about 3-4 inches. Now the fish is ready.

• Take about 4-5 garlic pods and mince them nicely. It should yield about 1 Tbsp of garlic.

• Take a piece of ginger of about 1 inch size. Grate it finely.  It should yield about 1 Tbsp of ginger.

• Chop the onion into small pieces.

• Slice the green chillies length-wise into two pieces each.

• Heat up a kadhai, put the oil in it. Keep it on medium heat.

• Once the oil is warm, put the cumin and mustard seeds and also break the dry red chilly and add them.

• In a few seconds, the mustard seeds will start popping and cumins seed will turn brown, so add the chopped onion, grated ginger, minced garlic and green chillies.

• Mix well and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes.

• Add the tamarind paste, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, salt and garam masala. Mix well.

• Pour in about 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.

• Cover it and cook for about 5 minutes so that onions get cooked properly and other ingredients mix well.

• Chop some fresh coriander leaves (a handful). Add it now along with some fresh lemon juice (I have used the ready-made one). Mix well.

• Slowly dip each piece of fish into this gravy, making sure that you are giving enough space to each piece.

• Turn the gas to high and once it starts boiling reduce it to medium. Cover it and give about 5 minutes to the fish to get cooked and soak in the flavours.

• Uncover now, mix and gently turn the pieces making the gravy reach all corners of the pieces. Cover again and give it another 5 minutes to cook.

• Double check that the fish is cooked properly - it should have changed colours and become darker and should be flaking easily.

• Switch off the gas and let it sit for sometime and before you can serve and enjoy it with a bowl of plain white rice!!

Butter Prawn

One fine day my good friend Dona's husband Angshuman (from Chennai) posted on his Facebook wall that he loved his dinner of Butter Prawns. And instantly I was tempted to make them. I always have frozen processed and semi-cooked prawns in my freezer so making them right away was not a big deal for me. 

How to make it....What all to use... etc. were the questions that popped in my head...

I definitely had butter with me (how can I possibly make butter prawns without lots of butter)...I made a quick plan to use some garlic and the shallots I had got almost a week back but not used till now..Since the germination of the whole idea to make butter prawns came all the way from Chennai I thought of using Curry leaves too...Now let's get going and make this delicious prawn!!

What all I used :

(Serves 2)

• Prawn - about 20 of them

• Garlic - few pods

• Curry leaves - few

• Green chilly - 2-3

• Shallot - 2-3

• Butter - a generous scoop

How I made it :

• Since the prawns I used here are already processed, I am saving a lot of time. You please clean, de-vein and wash your prawns properly, if you are using the raw / fresh ones.

• I had kept the tails on, just to add that crunchiness. If you want you may take them off too.

• Use any kind of prawns you want - jumbo, small, anything that you can lay your hands on.

• Using shallots was just an instant idea that came to me. Shallots are almost like the regular onions, so in case you don't find shallots, use the red onions instead. First look of Shallots for you -

 

• Peel the garlic pods and chop them into fine tiny pieces.

• Now take a open wide non stick pan, put it on medium heat.

• Add the butter in it and let it warm up, leave bubbles and turn slightly golden. Keep a close eye on it as very quickly it might just get burnt (we don't want that!!!).

• Add in the chopped garlic and fry them on low heat.

• Wash the curry leaves and add them now.

• Fry the garlic till they turn slightly golden brown.

• You should have got your prawns ready by now.

• Chop the green chillies into tiny pieces so that they get mixed well with other ingredients.

• Chop the shallots (or onions if you using them) into very tiny pieces. I want you to get the taste of the shallots but they should be tiny enough that once they get cooked you will not be able to separate them much from the prawns.

• Once the garlic is golden brown, add the prawns. Also put in the green chillies.

• Mix well and sauté them on medium heat. If you using raw / fresh prawns (small-medium sized ones), you will need about ten minutes to get them cooked, and also better to cover and cook them - generally works out quicker!!

• For my semi-cooked prawns, I gave them about two minutes and then added the finely chopped shallot.

• You will see by now that the prawns will be getting a nice brown colour now and let us not forget the buttery aroma.

• I wanted my prawns and shallots crunchy so I let the whole thing fry a little bit extra. But you might just want to switch off the gas in about maximum three-five minutes once you have added the shallots (since they have been cut so tiny they will get cooked pretty fast).

You can serve it as a starter or else you can savour it as a dry side dish in your main course.

Potatoes and Spring Onion Fry

Spring Onion is also known as green onion, scallion and by many other names. It basically has a long green stalk and a small bulb at the bottom. Mostly used and eaten raw, but also cant be sautéed into may dishes. It is widely used in may Indian dishes. You may have seen it visibly in most Chinese dishes, as it is basically a Chinese discovery. Other than tasting good and blending well with many vegetables, Spring Onions have nice nutritional values and good health benefits!!

I had never made anything with spring onions, but this time I though how difficult could it be..And I managed to make a very simple, quick recipe using potatoes with the spring onions.

What I used :

(Serves 2)

• Potato - 2 (medium sized)

• Spring onion - 1 bunch

• Green chilly - 2

• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

• Cooking oil - 1 Tbsp

• Salt - to taste

How I made it:

• Wash and peel the potatoes.

• Cut the potatoes into small pieces (about 2 cm in size).

• Wash the spring onions. By the way this is how they look (in a bunch), just in case you have never seen what they are. 

• Cut the spring onion (bunch) almost where the green colour starts, basically separating the green leafy stalk portion from the onion types bulb portion.

 

• Chop the stalk / green portion into small pieces

• Cut out the roots from the bulbs and then cut the white portion that is left.

• Now heat a pan and warm the oil in it.

• Add the cut white / onion portion of the spring onion.

 

• We shall fry them till they are golden brown, about 2 minutes on medium-high heat.

 

• Toss in the potatoes now and sauté them on medium heat for about 5-7 minutes. You can keep it covered if you want it to cook quickly.

• Same as the onions, we shall cook the potatoes till they are golden brown.

• Chop the green chillies.

• Add the turmeric powder and the chopped chillies. Mix well.

• In a minute when the turmeric has blended well with the potatoes, add in the chopped green stalk portion of the spring onion.

• Mix well.

 

• Our potatoes are almost cooked and in about 2-3 minutes the spring onions will also get soft and cooked.

• Serve it with roti or rice and dal.