Chilli Crab

Name: Chilli Crab
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric; ½ teaspoon ground coriander; ½ teaspoon ground cumin; 2 tablespoons chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves; 2 small red chillies, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1 tablespoon tamarind purée; 4 × 250 g (9 oz) small live crabs or 2 × 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) live crabs; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 4 cm (1½ inch) piece of ginger, grated; 125 ml (½ cup) oil

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Food of India

By Priya Wickramasinghe

Published 2005

About

This recipe combines sweet-tasting crab meat with aromatic spices and the heat from chillies. Provide your guests with a crab cracker, picks, finger bowls and pieces of roti to mop up the wonderful juices. You can use any kind of crab for this recipe.

Ingredients

4 × 250 g (9 oz) small live crabs or 2 × 500 g (1

Asia
India
Fish course
Pescatarian
Spicy
Gluten-free

Method

Put the crabs in the freezer for 2 hours to immobilize them. Using a large, heavy-bladed knife or cleaver, cut off the large front claws from each crab, then twist off the remaining claws. Turn each body over and pull off each apron piece, then pull out the spongy grey gills and discard them. Cut each crab body in half (quarters if you are using the large crabs). Crack the large front claws wit