One taste of this and you’ll know why Sri Lankan Crab Curry is world famous and a favorite for anyone who visits Sri Lanka! If I could only eat just one curry for the rest of my life, I want it to be this. A Spicy Crab Curry so good, that it makes you do a happy dance, sing its praises and forget all that hard work of cracking the claws and crab shells to get to the good stuff! No matter where I lived or how old I was, making and eating this spicy Sri Lankan crab curry was an event. An event worth celebrating. When I was a kid, if we knew we were going to have this crab curry for dinner that night, we would go the whole day eating very lightly just so that we’d be ravenous come dinner time, and salivating as the glorious aromas of this crab curry filled the house. Meat curries like chicken curry, beef curry, black pork curry, and even lamb curry were more common than this crab curry, so it was always a special occasion! Don’t be intimidated by the list of ingredients – every ingredient adds to a flavor-packed, wholesome crab curry. It’s also deceptively easy to put together. Below, you will also find information on how to choose the right kind of crabs for this recipe, so that you get the best results. Sri Lankans really do take their crab curry seriously. Last time I visited, there was even a restaurant dedicated entirely to crab dishes in Colombo, though I never got to check it out because it was quite a bit pricey. But thankfully, I have this recipe, and I know you guys are going to love it too! 🙂
Why unroasted curry powder works better for this crab curry
You can get the recipe for the Sri Lankan curry powder right here, but I’ve included it here as well with one difference. I don’t roast the spices for this Sri Lankan crab curry. The reason is that seafood is more delicate in flavor and roasting the spices makes their flavor profile more robust which can easily overpower the flavor of seafood. So unroasted curry powder provides a better balance of flavor for seafood curries, while roasted curry powder stands up well against other meat based curries.
How to choose the right type of crab for this crab curry
Choosing fresh crab is very important. I use blue swimmer crabs for this curry. Fresh crab is always best. And by fresh I mean that the crab is still alive. If you do find fresh crab that’s still alive, get your fishmonger to kill and clean the crab for you. And once you kill the crab, it’s also important to clean it immediately. If the crabs have been dead for a while, enzyme activity in the meat can turn it soft, mushy and insipid when cooked. If you’re buying pre-frozen crab, make sure it’s from a source you trust and that the crabs were frozen soon after they were killed and cleaned. Anything else is just a waste of your hard-earned money. I was able to get my hands on some fresh crab that I brought home and cleaned myself. I cooked the crabs immediately to preserve the freshness as much as possible. I used male crabs, because that’s what was available to me, as is usually the case. Female crabs tend to be more expensive, mostly because female crabs aren’t harvested nearly as much as the male ones, and female crabs also taste better (a little sweeter) in my experience.
How to clean blue swimmer crab for this crab curry recipe
Here’s a great video that I came across on YouTube on how to clean blue swimmer crab. For this spiry Sri Lankan crab curry, you only need to cut the crab in half – so do NOT quarter the crab like in this video. I also don’t remove the big claws from the body either, but that’s up to you. Sometimes, they tend to fall off when you stir the curry, so it’s not a big deal either way. It’s also a good idea to crack those claws before you add the crabs to the curry base so that all of that delicious flavor has more of an opportunity to get inside and flavor the meat. But that’s also optional. If you don’t have a crab claw cracker, you can use a meat hammer to get the job done.
More delicious Sri Lankan recipes you’ll enjoy
Shrimp Curry (Prawn Curry) Mango Curry Spicy Green Apple Curry Fish Curry Mushroom Curry Easy Carrot Curry Cauliflower Curry Chicken Kottu Roti Sri Lankan Watalappan Sri Lankan Pani Pol
If you liked this spicy Sri Lankan crab curry recipe, don’t forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes by entering your email address on the side bar (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox), so you don’t miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, YOU TUBE and GOOGLE-PLUS too.
