Mom’s Crab Curry

Families have certain recipes embedded in their psyche -a sort of gastronomic genetic imprint. These aren’t necessarily local and often originate from unexpected quarters. That’s the beauty of our rainbow nation – boerewors came with the French Huguenots and pap from Scotland. Curry spices definitely arrived with the Indians, or was it the Cape Malays – Kanpur or Kuala Lumpur, who cares – like Madeba they belong to all of us now.

Spices add variety to life so find a local dealer with decent fresh stock.
Cardamom is just about as pricey as saffron and quite difficult to find. If you get hold of the pods bruise them first before tossing into your pot or peel the skin off and just add the seeds whole or ground. The name means blameless and without reproach, sentiments displayed by Cleopatra when she lured Marc Anthony to her boudoir with their scent – might be an idea to serve this dish next time you’re hoping to score.

Star anise is quite “in” just now, but it’s always been an integral part of garam masala and traditional Chines five-spice powder. It has the same distinctive liquorice flavour as the similarly named but unrelated anise, and is often used instead of anise in liquors like Galliano, Sambuca, Pastis and sometimes Absinthe.

Probably your biggest challenge will be to get hold of fresh crabmeat, which many will say is the best of all seafood. Our local Scylla Serrata – mud or mangrove crab – should officially be easy to find burrowing away in the mud banks of estuaries all the way from Knysna through the Eastern Cape and as far up as Northern Kwa Zulu Natal. But these muddy crustaceans often play hard to get. So if you’re out there looking, keep your ear to the ground and your eyes on the locals – they might lead you to a secret hideout. If you do see someone who has caught some, be prepared to barter your wife or girlfriend, or maybe both – it could be the only way.

In the pot heat the oil then braise the cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, curry leaves, garlic and onion until they are transparent. Keeping the temperature down add the masala and turmeric, stir. Add tomato puree, sugar, salt and ½ the coriander and simmer until the oil rises to the surface of the sauce. Add the rest of the coriander, saving a little for garnishing. Add in butter and chillies and stir then turn off. Add the crabs to the sauce and once its boiling simmer for about 20 minutes. That’s it – tuck in!

Ingredients

You need
1 big pot
4 big crabs

For the curry
4 cloves garlic sliced
3 tablespoons oil
4 pods cardamom
4 star anise
1 bunch fresh coriander (Use as much or as little as you like)
2 medium cinnamon sticks
7 curry leaves
2 heaped tablespoons butter
1 medium size tin tomato puree
4 medium very ripe tomatoes – pulped or
1 tin tomatoes – pulped
1½ tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons masala
2 teaspoons tumeric (borry)
6 hot chillies
1 large onion – sliced
Salt to taste