Spicy Thai Mussels

Version en español aqui

I feel as though I start every post saying how quick and easy the recipe is – and I suppose that’s because that’s  the type of cooking I really love. As much as I want to eat something delicious for every meal, I don’t want to spend hours fiddling in the kitchen. What gets me excited are the things that I can make that take very little effort but taste amazing. This mussel recipe is one of those. It’s packed full of wonderful flavours yet takes no time to make. 

Mussels are easy to make as they open and cook in a few minutes. All you need is some heat. You can make that process as simple or as elaborate as you want – from heating a couple of inches of salted water in a pan to a more exotic sauce like this one.

Spicy Thai Mussels 

Serves 4 as a starter, 2 as a main dish

Ingredients

I kg mussels – scrubbed and cleaned (see below)

I medium onion chopped

1 clove garlic minced

3 medium tomatoes finely chopped

I heaped teaspoon grated ginger

2 tbs red curry paste (I used shop bought but you can make you own)

1 cup coconut milk (half a can)

fresh coriander

1+1/2 tbs of fish sauce 

Big squeeze of lime

Optional  1 fresh chilli finely chopped

Method

Before you start, you need to prepare the mussels. The mussels you buy may already be clean but the first thing to do is check they are all firmly closed i.e. alive. Put any that are even slightly open to one side. Meanwhile, pull out the beards off the closed ones, knock off any limpits or barnacles with a knife and lightly scrub the shell. Once you have done that check on the open ones. If they have closed you can use them. If they are still open, knock them, squeeze them and if they don’t react, discard them. All your mussels should be closed tight before cooking.

Take a large pan and sauté the onion for a few minutes. Then add the garlic. Once you see the onion and garlic have started to cook, add the finely chopped tomato. Keep cooking over a medium heat till you have a thick sauce.

Now add the red curry paste and stir in well followed by the fish sauce, ginger, coconut milk and big squeeze of lime. Let the sauce simmer for 5 mins and adjust the seasoning to taste but hold back on the salt (fish sauce) until you have added the mussels since they sometimes can be quite salty. To intensify the sourness, add more lime juice, and some finely chopped fresh chili if you want more kick.

Once you have the sauce the way you like it, throw in the mussels and cover with a lid. The mussels will only take a few minutes to open and they will release a lot of liquid. When you see some of them opening, give it all one big stir and cover again. Don’t overcook. If you keep them on the heat for too long they will start shrinking and you want them as plump as possible. Take them off the heat as soon as you see they have opened.

Sprinkle over the chopped coriander and serve straight away with some crusty bread to mop up all that delicious soupy sauce!