For all seafood lovers, here is an easy and quick crab sticks masala recipe that pairs well with any fragrant rice or rotis. This is a dry dish. This recipe is made with crab sticks that we get in packets. Crab sticks or seafood sticks do not contain crab meat. These are seafood made of starch and finely pulverized white fish, shaped and cured to resemble the leg meat of snow crab or Japanese spider crab. Since crab sticks are already cooked during the curing process, they do not require lot of cooking.
To make this crab sticks masala, we need the basic ingredients that are available in most of the Asian kitchens. Mild garam masala, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder, curry leaves, onion and ginger-garlic paste make this dish flavourful. I have used tiger prawns in this recipe, you can use any variety.
To start with the preparation….
Ingredients
- 1 Onion
- 1 Tomato
- 2 pinches of Turmeric powder
- ¾ tsp. Red chilli powder
- ½ tsp. Coriander powder
- ½ tsp. Garam masala
- 250 gms. or 1 packet Crab sticks
- ½ cup Water, for cooking
- 1 tsp. Ginger-garlic paste
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- 1 ½ tbsp. Oil
- Chopped coriander leaves, for garnishing
- Salt, to taste
Method
- Chop the ginger-garlic, onion and tomato and keep aside.
- Take the crab sticks from the packet and chop them to cube sizes. Set them aside.
- Add oil to a pan and fry onions till transparent.
- Next add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell disappears.
- Add tomatoes, salt and turmeric. Fry till the tomatoes turn mushy. Add red chilli powder, garam masala and coriander powder. Next add curry leaves to this.
- Sauté everything for about 3-5 minutes.
- Add water as needed to make gravy.
- To this mix, add crab sticks and allow it to simmer in the gravy. Fry the mix till the colour changes and the raw smell disappears. Since crab sticks are cooked during the curing process, it does not require lot of cooking.
- The crab sticks can easily disintegrate so you need to handle with care. Ensure you observe it while cooking to make sure it doesn’t overcook.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve crab sticks masala with fragrant rice, biryani or chapathi.