Malvani cuisine is the standard cuisine of the South Konkan region of Maharashtra and Goa. Malvani cuisine uses coconut liberally in various forms such as grated, dry-grated, fried, coconut paste and coconut milk. This recipe of Malvani Crab Masala, is cooked in the above style and as close as possible without the authentic Malvani Masala (Special spice powder) but it came out nice and I used Byadagi or Bedgi chillies, a famous variety of chillies from Karnataka and is the second largest chilli variety of India, for the natural spice and colour.
Ingredients:
500 gms crab cleaned
2 medium to large onion chopped.
1 large tomato chopped
Grated Coconut around 50 gas
Byadagi Red Chillies - 4 to 5
Garlic Cloves - 5
Cardamon - 3
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
Coconut Milk - 200 gms
Malvani masala (if possible) - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1tsp
Chilli Powder - 2 tsp
Coriander seed roasted - tbsp
Star Aniseed - 1
Fennel - 1tbsp
Cinnamon - 1
Cloves - 4-5
Black pepper - 4-5
Making Malvani Masala Paste
Take a pan and add some ghee and refined oil. Add one onion sliced along with fennel seeds, coriander seeds, 1/2 cinnamon, garlic cloves, Byadagi Chillies and roast it till the onion is translucent , semi brown. Add the grated coconut and roast the masala, till it turns a bit brown. Do not burn the coconut. Once done, keep it aside till it cools down. Make a smooth paste of the ingredients by adding some water.
Take a pan / Kadhai and add some ghee. Put the crabs and sautéed for the shells to be nice orange. Take out the crab and keep it aside. Add some more ghee / refined oil, add the whole garam masala (Cinnamon, Clove, Cinnamon), add chopped onions and cook till the onion is translucent. Add some ginger garlic paste and cook for a while. Now add the tomatoes, some turmeric powder, coriander powder, bit of sugar, salt to taste and cook to make the masala. Once the tomatoes are mushy and raw smell is gone, add the Coconut Masala paste and cook for 5 -7 min. Add the crabs, mix it well with the masala, season with salt as required, and put a lid and cook for 10 min in low heat. Add some water incase the masala get stuck at the bottom of the pan. Once the oil / ghee comes apart, add the coconut milk, mix well and cook for another 5-7 min with lid on. You can maintain the consistency of the gravy based on what you serve with. Switch off the heat and let the cook rest for a while before you serve. Add some slit green chillies & coriander as garnish. Serve hot with rice, dosa or paratha