Kankrar Jhal (Bengali Crab Curry)

East Indian

Kankrar Jhal (Bengali Crab Curry)

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Kankrar Jhal (Bengali Crab Curry) is East Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.

50 min Medium Pescatarian Gluten free Dairy free

Ingredients

Serves
4

The quantities follow this count.

How to cook it

  1. Scrub the crab pieces clean under running water and set aside to drain.

  2. Heat the mustard oil in a wide pot until it shimmers, then temper with the mustard seeds and panch phoron until they crackle, followed by the bay leaf.

  3. Add the sliced onion and fry until golden, about 8 minutes, then stir in the ginger garlic paste for a minute.

  4. Add the chopped tomato, turmeric, red chili powder, coriander powder and salt, and bhunno 8 minutes until the tomato breaks down and the oil separates at the edges.

  5. Slide in the crab pieces and turn them in the masala for 5 minutes so every piece is coated.

  6. Add the water, cover and simmer 12 minutes, shaking the pot now and then instead of stirring so the shells stay whole, until the crab is cooked through and the gravy has thickened.

  7. Finish with slit green chilies and coriander leaves, and serve hot with steamed rice.

Serve it with

A East Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Kankrar Jhal (Bengali Crab Curry), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.

A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.

Safe at your table

Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Kankrar Jhal (Bengali Crab Curry) carries shellfish. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.

Every tracked allergen in Kankrar Jhal (Bengali Crab Curry)
Allergen In this dish Cook this instead
Peanuts No
Tree nuts No
Dairy No
Gluten No
Shellfish Yes Aloo Posto (Potato in Poppy Seed Paste)
Eggs No
Soy No
Fish No
Sesame No
Coconut No

These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.

What it brings to the plate

Estimated, per serving

Calories
290 kcal
Protein
26 g
Carbs
10 g
Fat
16 g
Fiber
2 g
Sugar
3 g
Sodium
480 mg
Saturated fat
2 g

Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.

When to cook it

Kankrar Jhal (Bengali Crab Curry) takes about 50 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.

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Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.

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