Crabs Tonak is a coconut based crabs curry in which crabs are cooked with ground coconut and spices. The result is an excellent main course dish which is savored with Pao or Rice in Goa.
Ingredients
Crabs: 2 kg cut
Onion : 2 big (1 sliced and 1 finely cut)
Cinnamon : 1 inch piece
Cloves : 4
Peppercorns : 10-12
Bay Leaf: 1
Coriander seeds: 2-3 tsp
Garlic : 2 cloves finely chopped
Ginger: ¼ inch piece
Scraped Coconut: 1 cup
Dry Red Chilies: 3 medium
Tamarind: 1-2 marble sized ball
Turmeric Powder: 1.5 tsp
Salt: to taste
Instructions
Heat a little oil in a pan and stir fry the ginger and garlic till brown. Add the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaf and coriander seeds and stir fry till slightly brown. Remove and keep aside.
Heat oil in pan and stir fry the sliced onion till translucent. Add scrapped coconut and stir fry till golden brown. Add red chilies and fry briefly.
Grind the ginger-garlic-dry spices and onion-coconut mixture along with dry red chilies and tamarind. Use around ½-1 cup of water to grind to a smooth paste.
In a kadai, mix together the crabs, 1 finely chopped onions, 1 tsp turmeric powder and salt to taste. Close lid and let cook till crabs are cooked.
Add the coconut mixture from step 3, ½ tsp turmeric powder and salt to taste and bring to boil. Close lid and cook for 2-3 minutes.
If the gravy looks too dry, you can add a little water.
Notes
I have used the above measurements of spices several times in India with perfect results. However, sometimes the spices are much stronger (for e.g in the Gulf where I live now). In that case you might want to reduce the spices. I usually reduce the stronger spices by around 25% when I make tonak in Bahrain. You may increase or decrease the chilies based on what suits your taste.
Recipe by YourHungerStop at https://www.yourhungerstop.com/crabs-tonak-kulyanche-tonak/