Crab Curry

My favourite curry ever. Hands down.

If I have one pet peeve, it's when a dish is referred to as '...in a curry sauce.' Maybe in asian cuisines this is acceptable, but to me, an authentic curry of any cuisine (and this is an absolute for Caribbean curries) a curry is defined by the meat or vegetable cooked in it. The sauce of a curry is flavoured by that ingredient. You do not make the curry and then add the meat to it; you create the base for the sauce and add the meat, which helps to develop the flavour of the sauce. You cannot slap the sauce from a chicken curry on fish and call it fish curry. If a West Indian tastes the sauce and cannot tell you what kind of curry it comes from, they are not worth their weight.

My rant over, I will say that crab has a flavour that clings well to curry (probably oil soluble?) and is all around hearty while sweet at the same time. My husband doesn't prefer it for all the work required to get at the flesh, but to me, the best tasting foods need some effort put in to reap the delicious rewards.

Big Pot of Crab Curry for Easter Lunch

Crab Curry

Sri Lankan Sea Crab, or King Crab		2 lbs, on knuckle
Potato		5 large, peeled and cubed (1.5")
Onion		2 med onions, chopped
Garlic		6 cloves, minced
Tomato Paste		2 tbsp (heaped)
Coconut Milk		3/4 cup
Maririri Pepper		4 (depending on your heat preference)
Curry Powder (Sri Lankan)		6 tbsp
Cumin (parched)		3 tbsp (ground)
Turmeric		1 tbsp (ground)
Sea Salt		1 tsp
Canola Oil		2 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Wash and clean crab legs in lemon water
2. Pour canola oil into pot on med-high heat
3. Saute onions and garlic until translucent
4. Add tomato paste and stir until mixture is coated and paste begins to sizzle
5. Add curry powder, cumin and turmeric
6. Cook out all moisture until the paste begins to fry
7. Add potatoes and stir to coat
8. Cover and let cook on medium heat until partially cooked
9. Add crab, increase heat to medium high and stir to coat
10. When mixture barely begins to sizzle, add coconut milk
11. Add enough just-boiled water to cover and stir briefly
12. Add whole maririri peppers
13. Partially cover and bring to a boil
14. Reduce heat to medium, stir once, and let cook uncovered for approximately 20-30 minutes.
15. Skim the fat continuously. I've said before: most people don't do this, but in our family we cook flavourful food as healthy as possible.
16. Reduce heat to low for fifteen minutes and continue skimming fat
17. Stir. The liquid will have turned to a thickened sauce. Turn off heat and remain covered until ready to serve. Traditionally, seafood and fish curries are served over rice, not roti.