A crabby messy dish

CRAB AND DUMPLINGS, spicy, hot and messy is making waves internationally – a well-deserved accolade for an original and delicious dish.

Curried crab and dumplings is the iconic Tobago dish with deep roots in African history. The slaves were known to catch crabs when available and add them to their diet for increased sustenance. Especially in Tobago, where crabs were easily found close to the sandy shores, they added them to their pots to increase the nutritional value.

Dumplings were added to "stretch" the dish and provide much needed carbs. They made large, thin dumplings referred to as cow-tongue. They embraced the use of coconut milk as it was the only substitute for the palm oil they were accustomed to using in West Africa, and used it generously in all their dishes.

Crab and dumplings became an easy dish for the slaves to feed themselves. When curry was introduced by the British, they took a liking to it and began adding it to their food for colour in place of roucou at times.

It's easy to see why this dish remains an important part of the Tobago cuisine, the ingredients are easily available and the taste is iconic. Curry, coconut and copious amounts of fresh seasonings marry well with the sweetness and salt of the crabs, and let's not forget those dumplings to mop up all that flavourful sauce.

It surely is a finger-lickin’ messy dish, which, by the way, always tastes better when in Tobago!

Traditional curried crab with dumplings

This Tobago speciality is a must try! It is generally sold by the Store Bay women vendors in Tobago. The cow tongue dumplings are cooked separately and served with the curried crab. You can do it this way, but I have found that when the dumplings are made a little softer and cut a bit smaller and simmered with the curried crabs they do become juicy and succulent.

Dumplings

2 cups flour

1 tsp butter

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and rub butter into flour until mixture is grainy, slowly add water and knead to a stiff dough. Cover and let rest for about 30 minutes.

Divide dumpling dough into 2 pieces, roll each piece into a long rope-like shape about 12 inches in length, cut into 2-inch lengths and cook as directed below.

Curried crabs

3 tbs curry powder

½ cup water

6 blue crabs, or other, cleaned

4 cloves garlic, minced

juice of one lime

2 tbs vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

1 hot pepper, seeded and chopped

¼ cup chopped chadon beni

4 cups coconut milk

¼ cup chopped chives

salt and pepper to taste

Combine curry powder with water.

Season crabs with salt, pepper, 2 cloves garlic and lime juice, let stand for 30 minutes.

In a large saute pan, heat oil, add garlic, onion and hot pepper, cook for about one minute, add curry mixture and cook until thick, add crabs and stir to let curry mixture cover crabs in pot.

Add coconut milk and sprinkle on chives and chadon beni. Cook until bubbly, cover and simmer stirring occasionally for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Drop dumplings into crab mixture, cover and steam for a further 10 minutes,

Turning dumplings once.

If mixture seems too dry add a little more coconut milk or broth.

Sprinkle on more chadon beni if necessary.

Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serves 4 to 6

Curry crab and coconut dumplings

This is a riff of the original and my favourite!

Filling:

6 ozs crab meat

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp lime juice

2 tbs vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 pimento pepper, seeded and chopped

¼ tsp allspice

Curry sauce

2 tbs vegetable oil

1 hot pepper, seeded and chopped

2 tbs chopped onion

2 cloves garlic

2 tbs curry powder

½ cup water

1 cup coconut milk

¼ cup chopped chadon beni

¼ cup chopped chives

juice of one lime

Dumplings

2 cups flour

1 tsp butter

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and rub butter into flour until mixture is grainy, slowly add water and knead to a stiff dough.

Cover and let rest for about 30 minutes.

Season crab with salt, pepper, and lime juice.

In a large saute pan, heat oil, add garlic, onion and pimento pepper, cook for about one minute, add crab and toss to combine, Remove from stove and cool.

Cut dumpling dough into 12 pieces. Make each piece into a round. Shape each piece of dough into a 2½ to 3-inch circle. Place about one teaspoon of meat into the lower centre of the dough. Fold other half over and seal. Repeat until all the dumplings have been filled.

Make the curry sauce:

Heat vegetable oil in a sauté pan, add garlic, onion and pepper.

Saute until fragrant.

Combine curry powder with water. Add to pan and cook until mixture begins to dry.

Add coconut milk, and sprinkle chives and chadon beni. Cook until bubbly.

Drop dumplings into curry mixture, cover and steam for a further 10 minutes,

Turning dumplings once.

If mixture seems too dry add a little more coconut milk or broth.

Sprinkle more chadon beni if necessary.

Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serves 4 to 6

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