Kankadaa Jhola/Crab Curry

Crab, I am sure rings a bell in all Oriya’s palates. Well it has always been part of the staple Oriya food..
A typical Oriya meal is served with Rice thus making a need for a curry with enough gravy to use with it. More than the crab, the aroma soaked gravy or Jhola is just enough to gulp away two servings of steam rice. Let’s get down to work… and try to cook a very simple crab curry called as Kankadaa Jhola...

Ingredients:

4 large crabs
2 Onions
10-12 garlic flakes
2-3 dry red chilli
1'' long ginger
2 medium tomatoes-chopped
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1-2 tsp garam masala powder
oil
salt to taste.

Method

Boil water and take out in a bowl. Add the live crabs to the bowl and keep aside for 1/2 an hr..
When the crabs are dead, take out one by one and clean...only the body and claws are used (the crab claws can be lightly cracked and the body cut into half, to facilitate eating).
Marinate crab pieces with salt , 1 tsp turmeric powder and 1 tsp mustard oil for 15 mins.
Heat oil in a kadai, add the marinated crab pieces.
Fry till the crab pieces turns red and all the excess water evaporates.
Remove from the kadai and keep aside in a bowl.
Grind the onion, garlic, ginger,  and red chillis into a fine paste .
Heat oil in the kadai, add 1/2 tsp sugar in to it and wait till it becomes brown colour.
Add the prepared paste, red cilli powder and  salt . Cook till the raw smell goes away.

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 5-6 minutes till it is softened.
Add the crab pieces along with the garam masala powder,turmeric powder,  pepper powder, cumin powder and coriander powder.
Fry for another 5-10 mins.Add 4-5 cups of water. Bring to a boil .
Allow to simmer for 10 mins. Crab curry is ready to eat.
Serve hot with rice .