Traditional Bengali Style Crab Meat Recipe

Being surrounded by water bodies, the Bengalis grew weaknesses for various types of fishes, snails and crabs. The crabs were regularly cooked in the Bengali households in the past but nowadays due to busy working schedules as well as lack of the knowledge to prepare crab meat, most of the Bengalis are enjoying crab preparations in restaurants or on sea beach vacations.

But, on the contrary, making a crab curry is not hard at all if you know the steps very well.

First of all, let us explain about selecting a good quality crab from the market following the steps to make it ready for cooking and how to cook.

How to select a good quality crab?

• Choose the crabs kept in a dry place.
• The crab should be actively moving.
• Go for the crab which has a firm belly rather than a soft belly.
• Choose crabs with dull shells.
• Fresh crabs should be odourless.

You can order crab meat online, from Big Basket.

How to clean a crab for cooking?

• Immerse the crab in hot water and let it remain for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Take a toothbrush and clean the mud from the leg parts and the main body part.
• Take a heavy blunt object (in my house we take the help of the shil nora or stone mortar and pestle) and break away the legs from the body part. You can break the body part into two halves for ease of cooking.
• Drain any excess water from the shell of the crab and remove the stomach sac and hard membranes inside the shell.
• Apply salt and turmeric powder on the separated parts and keep aside for cooking.

Ingredients needed for preparing the crab curry

• Crab – 1.5 kg
• Onions – 6 large
• Garlic – 1.5 or 20 to 22 cloves
• Ginger Paste – 1.5 – 2 teaspoons
• Tomato – 1.5
• Green Chillies – 2-3
• Red Chilli Powder – Taste-wise
• Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder – 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder – 1 teaspoon
• Salt – Taste-wise
• Sugar – ½ teaspoon
• Water – 1 ½ cup
• Mustard oil – 3 to 4 tablespoons
• Garam Masala powder– 1 teaspoon

For Tempering

• Bay Leaves – 2
• Green Cardamom – 2
• Cloves – 2
• Cinnamon – ½ stick

Related: Traditional Bengali Basanti Pulao Recipe

How to Cook Crab Meat

Now that our preparation is over, let’s see how to how to cook crab meat.

Cut 4 onions into small slices.

Grind the tomato, garlic cloves and 2 onions in a mixer. Keep aside.

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed wok, put in the bay leaves, green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and shallow fry the crab pieces until a colour comes in them. Keep the fried pieces aside.

In the same oil, put in the onion slices, green chillies and fry till golden brown. Now add in the ground paste and keep stirring. When the oil will start separating, add in the ginger paste and stir again. Add red chilli powder and Kashmiri red chilli powder. Keep folding and mixing till the oil separates from the gravy and a cooked aroma comes out. Add in the fried crab pieces, salt, turmeric powder. Mix well and keep adding water to mix the crab pieces with the gravy well. Simmer, close the lid and boil the crab pieces in the gravy until done. Add sugar and garam masala powder and blend in with a ladle.

Switch off the gas oven. Give a standing time of 10 minutes before serving the curry with a plate of piping hot rice.

What more? Have a sumptuous lunch. Laze on the bed with a good book until a siesta comes in by!!

The post How To Cook Crab Meat Delicacy appeared first on KolkataFusion.

Before I start, I would like to clear a misconception regarding the spelling of ‘Chochhori’ – it’s always Chochhori and not Chorchori (the term bongs use to term the Velcro strips in the shoes or bags). So it’s maacher matha diye chocchori and not maacher matha diye chorchori!

I had always seen Chocchori being cooked by my Maa when the vegetable stocks needed to be finished in order to refill the fridge rack with the fresh ones from the market. Now, when my Mother-in-law and I cook, we too, do the same. Infact, the nuances of chopping vegetables and greens for Chocchori and cook them perfectly is being taught to me by my Mother-in-law. Yes, I am still learning and yet to perfect the art.

Now, Chocchoris are of two kinds, with fish head and without fish head. When we put the ‘Maachher Matha’ (fish head) while preparing the Chocchori, the taste enhances to manifolds. Basically, a Chocchori is made to taste delicious by using the left-over raw cooking ingredients.

The ingredients we used last time to prepare the chochhori:

• The stem portions of Laal Shaak (Red Amaranth Greens), Raddish Greens, Cauliflower, Cabbage (You can also use spinach stems too)
• The Raddish Leaves
•  Raddish (3 to 4)
• Potatoes (2)
• Wax Gourd (Potol) (4)
• Brinjal (1)
• Pumpkin (1/2)
• Maacher Matha (Fish head portion of any 1 fresh fish, we used Bhetki Fish)
• Garlic (3 pods, crushed)
• Salt
• Turmeric Powder
• Sugar
• Mustard Oil
• Chilli Powder (½ tsp)

Process to prepare Maachher Matha Diye Chocchori

• Clean and thoroughly wash the fish head, smear some salt and turmeric. Keep aside.
• Chop all the vegetables into 2 ½ inch long and ½ inch wide pieces. Chop the greens into rough rectangles.  
• Heat about 2 to 3 tbsp oil in a wok
• Put in the stem portions first. Sauté them for a minute.
• Next keep adding the vegetables in this order, – radishes, potatoes, wax gourd, pumpkin, brinjal.
• Keep stirring the vegetables and add the greens. Cover the lid. Keep the flame in simmer.
• Juice from the greens will start coming out. Stir gently and cover the lid.
• Add 1 tsp turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mix in gently. Cover the lid again.
• Keep stirring and covering the lid when stirring is done till all the vegetables, stem portions and greens turn tender and the juices start to dry up.
• In another wok, heat 1tsp oil, add in the crushed garlic pods and fry the fish head portions.
• After frying them, add them into the vegetables and mix in.
• Turn off the flame after 2 minutes and keep a standing time of 10 minutes before serving hot with rice as the starter.

Its an age-old Bengali tradition to eat vegetables or fish preparation with vegetables as palate cleansers or starters. The chochhori just sets the tone right before you delve into Daals, Maacher Kaliya and the likes for a sumptuous Bengali lunch.

The post Maachher Matha Diye Chocchori appeared first on KolkataFusion.

So, to cut the bitter story short, let me introduce a quintessential bitter ‘Prothom Paatey’ recipe. Do try it in your kitchens as well.

Ingredients for Bangali Sukto Recipe

Potato (1 medium)

Sweet Potato (1)

Bitter Gourds (Ucchhe) (5-6 medium)

Raw Papaya (1 small)

Pumpkin (proportionately)

Drumsticks (Moringa sticks) (1 – 2)

Milk (2 tbsp)

Ginger Paste (1 tsp)

Mustard Oil (1 ½  tbsp)

Turmeric Powder ( ½ pinch)

Salt (according to taste)

Sugar (1 tsp)

For tempering

Wild celery seeds (Ajmoda or Radhuni) (1 Pinch)

Five spices (Paanchphoran) (1 Pinch)

Process of Cooking Sukto

Cut all the vegetables lengthwise keeping the length one and a half inch. Heat the oil in a pan or wok (kadhai) and throw in 1 pinch of wild celery seeds. When the seeds begin to splutter, put the vegetables and shallow fry them. Add water, salt, half a pinch of turmeric powder and cook till the vegetables are tender. Now, give the ginger paste and a pinch of powdered paanch phoran or five spices and simmer. When the vegetables are done, add 2 tablespoons of milk and a teaspoon of sugar (because no Bengali food is complete without some sugar in it) and turn off the gas. Top it up with a generous teaspoon of ghee and serve hot with a slice of lemon.

For the perfect non-veg after shukto, check out the Crab recipe.

The post ‘Shukto’ Recipe From MIL’s Kitchen (Serves 4) appeared first on KolkataFusion.