Posted by Its true that Fishing is so much of a stress reliever. The 26th of January was Australian Republic Day. It coincidentally shares the date with the Republic Day of India. I have never gone fishing all my life. Although it wasn’t one of those long weekends, we were prompted to go fishing (crab catching ) with a few friends. We are so glad we did. The little one who showed disconcertion at the beginning went on to hold them in his hands later on. First the tiny ones which needed to go back into the seas and then to more bigger mature ones which went into the cooler boxes.It was long tiring day but a eventful one. Back home, I froze them and then cleaned them up and prepared this soup for Lunch the following day. The Nandu Rasam or crab soup has loads of pepper in it. I lean towards this recipe and I was reminded of the potluck lunch at office when a colleague brought a huge piping hot pot of Nandu Rasam. It was very spicy yet the whole team devoured bowls of it. After a brief conversation I understood that it was cooked in cooker to extract the juices. I dont have the recipe in its entirety. But I wanted to make the soup, here’s my version for it.
Recipe:
Adapted from : here
Serves : 4
Crab legs : about 12-15
Tomato : 1 ripe, medium
Tamarind : 1 marble sized ball soaked in 1/4 cup hot water
Curry powder : 1/2 tsp (I used store bought Aachi brand)
To grind :
Garlic : 1 large
Pepper corns : 1/2 tsp
Cumin : 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves : 3-4 sprigs
To roast and grind :
Pepper : 1 tsp
Cumin : 1/2 tsp
Fennel/saunf/sombu : 1/2 tsp
Method :
Soak the tamarind in hot water for about 5-10 minutes and extract the pulp. To this add tomatoes and crush them with your hands till it turns pulpy. Add about 400 ml water Keep aside
Grind the garlic, pepper and cumin along with the coriander leaves till well crushed.
Heat oil in a pan add the garlic mixture thats been ground.
Lower heat, Once they seem cooked add the crab legs and saute for about 45 seconds.
To this add the tomato and tamarind pulp mixture and cover and leave it to cook for about 10-12 minutes.
Then simmer and add the curry powder.
Let it cook further for a minute
In the meantime, roast the pepper, cumin and fennel. Crush them coarsely
Before removing off heat add the crushed pepper, cumin and fennel seeds.
Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.
The Steamy Pot 