Crab balls in Sweet n Sour Gravy or Crab Manchurian??

 















Last couple of days we were literally on a gourmet spree...exploring different cuisines...Portuguese Peri peri chicken(OOps!! Hot...exactly what I wanted!!) and a host of other spicy chicken varieties from 'Nandos',SpanishChicken Paella,meat balls(a little too harmless...quite plain for my palate!) and a host of other recipes,the names of which I cant contain in my mouth,Italian stromboli,ravioli,chicken arrabbiatta,(Great as always!) and a grand finale at Dragon King in Shrewsbury with an amazing buffet of around 42(I counted!!) exotic Chinese,Thai, and Singaporean dishes!!The food was so tempting that we did not think twice to throw all our caution to wind and gorge on the amazing varieties from the East and the West.We were so impressed by the Dragon Buffet that we went again the next day to eat the same buffet...ate so much that we could hardly breathe!!When it comes to food and music we both are perfect partners!!;)

After gorging upon all the amazing variety I still felt like eating more of them...so thought of making some of them at home...To start with I just made some Crab balls(croquets) in a sweet n sour gravy. Meat balls are quite common, so why not crab balls was my logic, and a chinese twist, that wd be very welcome..It tasted very much like Manchurian...A crab Manchurian?....hmmm...but I'm not sure whether there is something called crab manchurian for I have never tasted one, and moreover I dont wish to antagonise the Chinese Puritanists for my recipe might be very un-chinese! I never even knew that there really is some dish called crab croquet until I googled for it after posting my snaps!!Amazing it seems to be quite a common dish in Europe, but of course more traditional and different!!Here is what I did to prepare this very yummy crab dish.Let me tell u one thing that u need some real good quality crab for making the dish or else either u will run short of meat or the crabs do not taste good if they belong to a prehistoric age !!So straight to the recipe:

Ingredients:
Crab meat-250g
Chilli powder-1tsp
Turmeric powder-1tsp
Garlic-5 pods(chopped)
Boiled eggs-2 grated
Egg-1(beaten)
Potato-1 large(cooked and mashed)
Onion-1 (chopped fine)
SweetOrange Pepper-1 chopped
Spring Onion-a bunch-chopped
Green chilli-3 chopped
Tomato Sauce-2tbsp
Chilli sauce-2tbsp
Soya sauce-1 1/2 tbsp
Water-as required
Salt-as reqd
Oil-as reqd
Parsley-a few sprigs
Method:
  
















Boil the cleaned Crab(remove the poisonous dead man's fingers) with a pinch of salt(you can also cook potato and eggs along with it)till the meat is cooked.(Caution:It may froth n spill out).Now remove the meat from the shell with a fork.Mix the meat with potato,grated boiled egg,chillipowder,tumeric and salt,.Divide into equal portions and roll it into croquets/balls.Heat oil in a wok,deep fry each croquet till golden(Caution:It might burst and splutter...so stay at a safe distance!)Now heat oil in a wok.Saute onions,gr.chilli,garlic to a brownish tinge.Now add the sauces.Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes.Finally add the deep fried crab croquets and mix well with the gravy.If you want it more fluidy,you can add a little water.Now cook everything together for another 3 or 4 minutes.Do not stir vigorously for the croquets might break....but still it doesnt really matter...for they taste amazing even in amorphous condition!!Garnish with some chopped parsley and serve it with Chappathi or with some Couscous Pilaf.