Saturday, May 20, 2006

Mussels Cooked in Coconut Milk

I love mussels. Well, I love most things ‘sea food’. I have a really good fishmongers where I always go to and I buy the mussels already cleaned up. It’s such a treat. Today I went over for vongoli but there was none left so I ended up once again with mussels. Oh, too bad!!

I decided that I would prepare it with coconut milk. Great combination. Plus a selection a ingredients which say ‘thai’ all over. The result was a really lovely dish, with a beautiful aroma. I had 400g all to myself. It is true that once you discount all the shells you are not left with much substance as it were. I don’t care however. It is all so wonderful


1.5 kg fresh mussels

2 fresh lemon grass stalks

1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk

3 tablespoons water

3 kaffir lime leaves or 1 tablespoon shredded lime zest

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped spring onions

1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste

3 tablespoons chopped coriander roots or stalks

2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)

1 teaspoon sugar

A large handful of fresh Thai basil leaves or ordinary basil leaves, shredded

Often the fishmonger sells the mussels already cleaned up. If not, clean them before using in the recipe.

Peel the tough outer layers of the lemon grass stalks, leaving the tender whitish centre. Cut it into 7.5cm pieces and crush with the flat of a heavy knife.

Pour the coconut milk and water into a wok or large frying-pan. Add the lemon grass, lime leaves or zest, spring onions, curry paste, coriander roots or stalks, fish sauce and sugar and bring to a simmer.

Add the mussels, then cover and cook over a high heat for 5 minutes, until all the mussels have opened (discard any that remain closed). Give the mixture a final stir, add the basil leaves and sever at once.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like mussels a lot but rarely eat it. Perhaps because others in my home don't like it. I'm going to have to cook for MYSELF on not worry about them. ;-)

I like this recipe, but I'm not sure where to get some of the ingredients like the lemon grass stalk, curry paste, fish sauce... Hmmm... I'm going to look into it. I'd love to try this recipe.

Paz

Valentina said...

Paz, I never used to prepare it myself until I found this local fishmonger who always has them. As for the ingredients, I would say that you should find them where they sell Asian ingredients. Chinatown perhaps? In the Uk we find Asian ingredients with great ease these days.

Anonymous said...

This sounds delicious!!!

I adore mussels but for some reason I have only cooked them at home a couple of times. I would really like to give this recipe a try, I'll let you know how I get on.

Astrid said...

Mmmm, this recipe sounds delicious. Thank you for translating your recipes into English!

Valentina said...

Astrid, if you like mussels this is a really lovely twist. I recommend it.

obachan said...

I wish I could get such good looking mussels around here...

Valentina said...

Obachan, I thought that you would get lovely mussels over there.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Valentina. Yes, I'll have to make a trip down to Chinatown!

Paz