Three spotted (swimmer) crab in spiced coconut gravy

Happy New Year 2015 dear readers! It has been close to a year since my last blog post (sounds a bit like a confession at church - 'Forgive me Father it has been close to a year since my last confession!'). Jokes apart, I must apologise to you my dear readers for not having to hear from me. 2014 was quite a roller coaster ride with the best and worst seen! It was definitely a year full of changes and challenges. Thankfully we survived the bitter ones with the Grace of Our Lord! I also thank you dear readers for the numerous emails, messages, calls, texts and IMs to check in on me and motivating me to return to G'Gina's Kitchenette.

I lost my dear grandma in August of 2014 and as you may have noticed a lot of my previous blog posts and posts/tweets refer to grandma's influence in my cooking. So what started as what may have been a writer's block, saw me through a whole heap of events including a physical move of G'Gina's Kitchenette to a new location. I am not sure if you know that I also run a Tourism business ICare Holidayz which thanks to word of mouth from dear friends and family has been doing fairly well in 2014. I also work in my field of specialization which is Human Resources. Our recent relocation in 2014 has not been easy on my little one or us as a family owing to a lot of circumstantial changes. We hope for the best and a resolve in 2015. So among all this my recipe creations were on a hold from being shared!

I was contemplating on what to begin with as although the writing had ceased for a while, the cooking cannot! So there are a lot of new recipes I have tried and tested time and again which I hope to share with you soon. I thought I would begin with Mum's recipe which was liked a lot by my grandma as well. I am hoping I can be regular with my blog posts as often as possible to compensate for the 11 months silence. I dedicate this recipe to my dear grandma who I am sure is in Heaven's Abode praying and looking over us.

This recipe has always been welcomed by family, friends and relatives. And I am certain you would love the same.

You need:

• 1 kg of fresh three spotted swimmer crab, washed, cleaned and halved
• Cleaned hard shells of the crabs, air dry the shells (Mom does not incorporate this in the original recipe)
• 4-5 green chilies (depending on how spicy you like it)
• 2 large tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2" ginger, diced
• 2-3 cloves, garlic (*optional - mom does not use)
• 1/2 cup of drinking water
• 1/2 of a medium sized coconut, grated
• 1/4 tbsp of red chili powder (I use Kashmiri Chili powder)
• Salt to taste
• Oil to fry the hard shells

The Make:

Serves : 4 adults | Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 40 minutes

I normally get my crab cleaned at the vendor's place itself. This time, I got the hard shells cleaned as well. Garlic is not required but you can add a few cloves.

1. Grind the coconut gratings, green chilies, ginger, garlic (optional) ,chopped tomatoes, red chili powder and salt with a little water as required to grind the mixture for a minute on high to medium speed.

The ground mixture should be thick enough to leave a circle in mix when stirred with a ladle.

2. Next heat oil to fry the hard shells in a wok and add the air-dried hard shells, taking care to ensure that the shells do not have traces of water to avoid the splutter. Once the shells turn orange, strain off the oil and on to kitchen towel.

3. Drain off most of the oil leaving just 1 tbsp of oil in the wok. Next add in the ground coconut mixture to the oil on medium-low heat. Cook for 2 minutes or until the coconut mix leaves the sides of the wok.

4. Add the crab halves to the coconut mixture and cover the crabs with the coconut mix. Saute for 3-5 minutes.

5. Add a tad bit of water if the coconut mixture is too dry. This will help the cooking process and avoid drying or even getting burnt.

6. Cook for about 20-30 minutes taking care to saute in between to avoid the coconut getting burnt. 

7. Serve with the hard shells on top on in the shells with piping hot /steamed rice.

Bon Appetit!

Duck Roast Gravy (Tharavu Roast curry) - A Christmas Savoury delicacy

In the spirit of the festive season, I am trying to bring to you as many recipes as possible to help you prepare for your big Christmas lunch or dinner! If you are a member of my Facebook page, you would have seen some of the posted recipes related to Christmas. If you have not yet seen our facebook page, please visit here and 'Like' the page so as to have it bookmarked. Spread the word with your family and friends as well.

Duck roast is often taken as an option to the western Christmas tradition of Turkey Roast especially in Christian families in the South of India in the state of Kerala. Duck Roast would often be accompanied with Appam,  either 'KallAppams' (Indian Toddy Pancakes) or 'PaalAppams' (Milkhoppers). You could also serve this with Kappa Vevichathu (Tapioca Steamed and Fried) or Rice of your choice or Rice Iddiappam (which looks like miniature rice noodles). Hopefully I will post the Kappa Vevichathu recipe very soon :) Although Duck Roast is normally accompanied with Appams or Fried Rice even during Christmas.

I hope you enjoy this creation of mine. Sorry I don't have better pictures of the process as this was taken way earlier than I had intended to start this blog. I will definitely upload better pictures should I try this again. Hope you are having a great Christmas season!

I meant to post this recipe last week but my system decided to have some technical issues at about the same time. It is resolved now so hope I get time (amidst all the baking and cooking) to post as many recipes to Christmas and even the New Year 2014 to help you design your dinners/lunch/desserts :)

You need:

• 1 kg Duck, cleaned well (soak for at least 20-30 minutes in turmeric, salt and vinegar), fat removed, skinned and cut into medium pieces*

These ingredients are required for the Marinade:

• 2 tbsp Red chili powder
• 2 tbsp Coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

Remaining ingredients required for the recipe:

• 2 roughly torn  long dried red chilies
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 6-8 green chilies, slit lengthwise
• 2 tbsp of cooking oil (although you should use coconut oil if you want it to taste as close as possible to the traditional version)
• 2-3 large purple onions, diced finely
• 10-12 small red onions, diced finely
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes, finely sliced
• 1" ginger, finely diced
• 6-8 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 3-4 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1/2 tsp  Turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp Coriander powder
• 3 tbsp of Red Chili powder
• Coconut milk - 2 extracts : 1st extract 1 cup and 2nd extract 2 cups. You can try the Homemade version here as I did for this recipe. Just make sure to adjust the water accordingly as required for this recipe.
• Salt to taste

*Optional: you can leave a few pieces with skin on possibly the wings or even portion of the legs/breast

The Make:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 1 hour | Serves: 5-6 adults

It is best to leave a few pieces with the skin on and you can opt to take it out later to add some flavour of the duck fat in the dish. I have tried it without as well and I can vouch for the former. You can take off the excess oil off the top of the finished dish. Make sure before marinating to drain out any water content from the duck meat.

Marinate the duck meat for 4-6 hours. You can choose to do it for longer or lesser. The more you marinate the duck meat, the more flavourful the end result. I ended up marinating my Christmas duck roast for 8-10 hrs. I had a huge banquet of dishes for this particular Christmas :) Trust me not a drop of the gravy was left to the next meal let alone the next day.

1. Heat the oil in a clay pot or deep-bottomed wok or even a pressure cooker and splutter some mustard seeds.
2. Toss in the curry leaves, red onions, dried red chilies, ginger and garlic and saute well for 2-3 minutes.
3. Next add the diced purple onions and saute till translucent.
4 .Toss in the green chilies and saute till the onions turn lightly brown.
5. Add the marinated duck meat and salt. Cover and cook for 40 minutes on medium-low heat. If you are using the pressure cooker, make sure to add enough water to just about cover the meat or about a cup lower as the duck fat would also release making the gravy very watery. It should cook for about 5 whistles on medium-high. You would have half-cooked duck meat at this stage using either of the methods.
6. In a bowl, mix the turmeric, red chili, coriander powders and garam masala and add the 2nd extract coconut milk bit by bit mixing well.
7. To the half-cooked duck, add the 2nd extract spiced coconut milk on low heat and mix well. Cover and cook until the gravy has just thickened and the meat cooked.

If the duck meat is of good quality it would be soft and tender.

8. Lastly but more importantly add the thick 1st coconut milk extract and mix gently. Bring to almost a boil and set aside.

Serve with hot Appams or Fried Rice or Kappa any other flatbread/rice of your choice.

Bon Appetit! Tis' the season to be jolly falalalalalalala....Seasons Greetings all!