Crab Curry

Name: Crab Curry
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Sri Lanka
Ingredients: juice of ½ lime; 3 sprigs curry leaves, leaves picked; 1 teaspoon unroasted chilli powder*; 2 teaspoons dried chilli pieces*; 375 ml (13 fl oz/1½ cups) coconut milk*; 3 vine-ripened tomatoes, diced; 1–2 thin green chillies*, halved lengthways (optional); 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds; 1 teaspoon fennel seeds; 1 teaspoon salt, plus extra to taste; 2 cm (¾ inch) piece ginger, thinly sliced; 1 red onion*, thinly sliced; 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 4 blue swimmer crabs (about 400 g/14 oz each) (or 2 live mud crabs, about 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) each); 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Hidden Kitchens of Sri Lanka

By Bree Hutchins

Published 2013

About

Jaffna is renowned for its abundant seafood and a visit to the region isn’t complete without tasting their famous crab curry. We cooked the curry over an open fire in Bamini’s garden and the flavours were incredible! Be prepared to get a bit messy when eating this dish, but I can assure you it is worth it.

Ingredients

4 blue swimmer crabs (about 400 g/14 oz each) (or 2 live mud crabs

Asia
Sri Lanka
Jaffna
Dinner
Lunch
Pescatarian
Spicy
Gluten-free

Method

If using live mud crabs, place them in the freezer for 1-2 hours until they are completely immobilised before you begin chopping them.

Remove the triangular flap under the crab and discard it, then lift off and remove the head, keeping the head to cook with the rest of the crab for presentation. Remove the gills and any yellow ‘mustard’. Wash the crabs. Cut in half, the