Mangalore buns with crab sukka with calcots recipe

Prepare: overnight
Cook: 30 mins to 1 hour
Serve: Serves 5
Dietary: Egg-free Pregnancy-friendly

Mangalore buns are a beloved treat from Karnataka; soft, lightly sweet, and made with banana. Paired with a spicy, savoury crab filling, they become the perfect sweet‑meets‑heat bite. A must‑try!

By Avi Shashidhara

From Saturday Kitchen

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Ingredients

For the buns

188g/6¾oz Greek-style yoghurt
2 over-ripe bananas, peeled
450g/1lb plain flour
8g salt
½ tsp cumin seeds, crushed
4g bicarbonate of soda
4g baking powder
50g/1¾oz icing sugar
sunflower oil, for deep frying

For the crab sukka

3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp black or yellow mustard seeds
1 bunch fresh curry leaves
3 Bombay onions or shallots, peeled and chopped
5 green bird’s-eye chillies, chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh root ginger
2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
250g tin San Marzano tomatoes
3 tbsp coconut milk powder
1kg/2lb 4oz Dorset cock crab meat, cooked and picked
salt, to taste
fennel fronds, to garnish
fried curry leaves, to garnish

For the calcots

2 tbsp olive oil
6 calcots, trimmed
sea salt

For the chutney

300g/10½oz hemp seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 lemon, juice only
5 dried red chillies
1 red pepper, grilled and peeled
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

To make the buns, blend the yoghurt and bananas in a food processor or blender to a purée.
Place all of the remaining dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the banana purée into the dry ingredients in the bowl.
Using a food mixer, knead the banana mixture to a smooth dough. Cover with a clean tea towel and chill in the fridge overnight or for at least for 1 hour.
Heat the oil in a deep fat fryer to 200C. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.)
Roll out dough to 5mm/0.2in thickness and cut into 10cm/4in circles.
Fry them on both sides until they are golden brown in colour. Transfer to drain on kitchen paper.
To make the crab sukka, heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves and cook until crackling.
Stir in the onions, chillies and ginger and fry until the ingredients are translucent and soft, this will take around 10 minutes.
Add the chilli powder and coriander seeds and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes or until the spices are cooked/fragrant.
Stir in the tomatoes, season with salt and continue cooking until the tomatoes break down into a thick sauce. This will take around 10 minutes.
Add the coconut milk powder and reduce the mixture to a thick paste.
Stir in the crab meat and cook until the crab is completely incorporated into the sauce.
Stuff the buns with the crab sukka and garnish with the fennel fronds and fried curry leaves.
To make the calcots, preheat a large griddle pan. Drizzle the oil over the calcots and sprinkle over some salt. Grill the calcots until charred on the outside and soft on the inside.
To make the chutney, toast the hemp seeds and cumin seeds in a frying pan until they are slightly golden, smell nutty and the natural oils are released.
Keep some of the toasted seeds aside for the garnish and grind the rest with the remaining chutney ingredients in a pestle and mortar to a fine paste.
Season the chutney with salt and pepper and adjust the consistency as desired with water.
Serve the crab buns with the calcots and chutney on the side.