Caril de Caranguejo
A coastal Mozambican crab curry with real, layered influences worth naming explicitly rather than reducing to just one: Portuguese colonial rule brought curry technique via Goa's significant Goan population, older Arab and Swahili trade along the Indian Ocean coast shaped the spicing further, and native Mozambican piri-piri and coconut ground it firmly in African ingredients. Real caril de caranguejo builds its base on piri-piri chile rather than a generic curry powder, and adds coconut milk only once the aromatic base is built, simmering it relatively briefly rather than for a long time, keeping the sauce bright rather than muddied.
Seafood
⚠ Contains: Shellfish. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
Ingredients
- 1kg crab, cleaned and cut into pieces
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
- 3-4 piri-piri chiles, minced
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 can (400ml) coconut milk
- 1 tsp turmeric
- Oil
Steps
- Sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger in oil until softened.
- Add the piri-piri chile and turmeric, and cook briefly until fragrant.
- Stir in the tomatoes and cook down into a thick base.
- Add the crab pieces and coconut milk, and simmer gently for about 10 minutes until the crab is cooked through.
- Serve with rice or a cornmeal dough like xima.