Curry Crab Cakes

My favorite go-to cookbook comes through again with this interesting take on the traditional New England crab cake. It recommends serving with cream cheese and lemon juice but I opted to serve these as is. You can also have it atop a salad, serve with a side of salsa
(especially a mango style to complement the curry).

These are a bit messy to form and cook as they do not bind together very well. But if you use a very high heat pan and a large spatula, you can achieve a nice golden brown crispness, enough to at least keep it together.

I had prepared these as an appetizer size making 12 servings but you can also make as a main meal and make 6 servings. Despite the messiness of cooking them, they taste amazing!!!! The curry does not take over but adds a nice exotic flare to this otherwise traditional crab cake.

Start with sautéing the carrot, celery, red onion and butter.

Then flour and aromatics are added and blended into a paste using a food processor. Finally egg, crabmeat, and salt are folded in by hand. Then form any size serving you like.

I place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pop them into the refrigerator for an hour before sautéing.

You can serve these immediately or freeze for later use. When ready to eat, simply thaw and pop them in a 350 degree oven until warm ~ 10 minutes. Super easy and nice if you have last minute guests over and want a few nibbles.

Using a bed of greens as a base (or not) any of these salads would pair well with the crab cakes.

Top right, a summer raw slaw with carrot, celery, cucumber, red onion and lime vinaigrette. Bottom left, tomato summer salsa, bottom right, a similar raw salad with julienned veg tossed with a dressing of your choosing.

The hidden beauty is that
ALL OF THIS CAN BE PREPARED AHEAD OF TIME,
and then just warm the crab cakes (or not)
while you relax on your porch with a glass of vino.

Print

Curry Crab Cakes

a nice alternative to the overloaded breading filled iconic crab cake that is seasoned with aromatic curry and nutmeg

Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish

Keyword: crab cake, curry

Servings: 6 svgs

Author: Colorado Collage from The Junior League of Denver

Ingredients

Crabmeat Ingredients

• 2 TBSP unsalted butter to make the crab cakes
• 1/2 cup red onion, finely diced
• 1 celery rib, finely diced
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
• 2 TBSP flour
• 1/4 cup milk any type
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp Tabasco any hot sauce will work
• 1 egg
• 1 pound crab meat
• 1 tsp salt

For Sautéing

• 1 TBSP unsalted butter for sautéing

Instructions

1. Melt 2 TBSP butter then add carrot, celery, and onion and sauce until soft, ~ 3 min. 

2. Add flour and stir for another minute on heat.

3. Add milk, curry powder, nutmeg, and Tabasco and combine.

4. Remove from heat and use food processor to puree.  Pour into bowl.

5. Add crab meat, egg and salt and gently fold in to puree to maintain the chunkiness of the crab meat.

6. Form into any sized crab cakes and place on parchment lined baking sheet.

7. Refrigerate for ~ 1 hour.

8. Add remaining 1 TBSP butter to saute pan and melt.  With pan at medium high add crab cakes, careful not to overcrowd pan and brown both sides, ~ 5 min each side.

9. Serve immediately or place on parchment lined baking sheet and freeze to firm up.  Then place in airtight container and store in freezer.  

10. If frozen, take out desired servings and thaw, then warm in 350 degree oven for ~ 10-15 min.