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G E RSeptember 16, 2016
The Curry Brothers’ Crab Moilee
Drawing inspiration from their Bengali, Goan, and Khoja roots, The Curry Brothers boast a diverse (but compact) menu, with dishes ranging from kosha mangsho and porota to chicken cafreal. For us, they created a special coastal thaali, comprising a crab moilee to die for, potatoes roasted to golden brown perfection, and a creamy raita topped with crispy bhindi. As if that wasn’t enough, they made us a Gondhoraj margarita alongside-tart, zesty, and delightfully refreshing.
We didn’t feel right keeping these treats all to ourselves, and so we asked The Curry Brothers to share the recipes of our favourite dishes. The key to these is the right ingredients, so make sure you can source the freshest your local market has to offer. Here’s their crab moilee- incredibly easy to make, and perfect for late Sunday lunches.
“This dish was born out of a request from a regular. They wanted a grander version of their routine lunch order – our Fish Moilee – for a weekend brunch party, and suggested lobster. But instead we introduced him to the in-season and far tastier delights of mud crabs.”
You’ll need:
1 crab, cleaned, but on the shell (500-600 g is the perfect size. Go smaller and there won’t be enough meat. Go larger and they won’t be very sweet)
50g sambhar onions or shallots, finely sliced
3–4 cloves garlic finely sliced
An inch of ginger, julienned
A dozen or so curry leaves
1 tomato, cut into small cubes
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
2-3 green chilies, split lengthwise
1/2 cup coconut cream (thick or first press milk)
1 cup coconut milk.
½ tsp haldi powder
2 tbsp coconut oil (cooking oil will also do)
Salt to taste
1 cup water
Directions:
In a heavy bottomed pan or kadhai, heat up and temper the oil with the green chili, mustard seeds and curry leaves. A few seconds later, add the shallots, ginger and garlic and give it all a good stir.
In a minute or two the shallots would have softened and begun to turn translucent. Add this point add some water and deglaze the pan. Add some haldi, and throw in your crab (crack the claws a little with something heavy like a pestle) and cover the pan.
Five minutes later remove the lid. You’ll see the crab would have turned a bright red. At this point add the coconut milk. You can also add a little bit of mirchi and dhania powder at this point of you like. While this is not the traditional way of doing things, it adds a nice rounded savoury touch to sauce.
Simmer the curry for another five minutes, then add the tomato and cook for a further two-three minutes. The idea is not to overcook the tomatoes and let them retain some bite.
Turn down the stove to lowest flame/ setting and now stir in the coconut cream. Once the sauce is nicely mixed take it off the stove and serve over piping hot steamed or coconut rice.
More Curry Brother's, here.
We didn’t feel right keeping these treats all to ourselves, and so we asked The Curry Brothers to share the recipes of our favourite dishes. The key to these is the right ingredients, so make sure you can source the freshest your local market has to offer. Here’s their crab moilee- incredibly easy to make, and perfect for late Sunday lunches.
“This dish was born out of a request from a regular. They wanted a grander version of their routine lunch order – our Fish Moilee – for a weekend brunch party, and suggested lobster. But instead we introduced him to the in-season and far tastier delights of mud crabs.”
1 crab, cleaned, but on the shell (500-600 g is the perfect size. Go smaller and there won’t be enough meat. Go larger and they won’t be very sweet)
50g sambhar onions or shallots, finely sliced
3–4 cloves garlic finely sliced
An inch of ginger, julienned
A dozen or so curry leaves
1 tomato, cut into small cubes
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
2-3 green chilies, split lengthwise
1/2 cup coconut cream (thick or first press milk)
1 cup coconut milk.
½ tsp haldi powder
2 tbsp coconut oil (cooking oil will also do)
Salt to taste
1 cup water
Directions:
In a heavy bottomed pan or kadhai, heat up and temper the oil with the green chili, mustard seeds and curry leaves. A few seconds later, add the shallots, ginger and garlic and give it all a good stir.
In a minute or two the shallots would have softened and begun to turn translucent. Add this point add some water and deglaze the pan. Add some haldi, and throw in your crab (crack the claws a little with something heavy like a pestle) and cover the pan.
Five minutes later remove the lid. You’ll see the crab would have turned a bright red. At this point add the coconut milk. You can also add a little bit of mirchi and dhania powder at this point of you like. While this is not the traditional way of doing things, it adds a nice rounded savoury touch to sauce.
Simmer the curry for another five minutes, then add the tomato and cook for a further two-three minutes. The idea is not to overcook the tomatoes and let them retain some bite.
Turn down the stove to lowest flame/ setting and now stir in the coconut cream. Once the sauce is nicely mixed take it off the stove and serve over piping hot steamed or coconut rice.
More Curry Brother's, here.
