Steamed Mussels With Curry Recipes

STEAMED MUSSELS IN CURRY BROTH

Steps:

• With a vegetable brush, clean the mussels under cold running water. Pull off and discard any beards. Discard any mussels with a broken shell or those that do not close when sharply tapped. Drain well.
• In a stainless steel or coated-aluminum wok, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, and stir-fry until the onion is wilted. Add the curry paste and turmeric, and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute, until aromatic. Add the wine, clam juice, lime leaves, and lemongrass. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the limes leaves and discard.
• Add the mussels, cover the wok tightly, and steam over moderate heat for 5 minutes. The mussels will begin to open. Continue cooking until all the mussels have opened; transfer those that opened to a platter and discard any that fail to open. Add the cream and cilantro leaves to the wok, and stir to blend. Pour over the mussels and serve.

THAI-INSPIRED MUSSELS WITH COCONUT MILK AND LEMONGRASS

Steps:

• For the mussels: Preheat a large lidded saucepan or moules (mussels) pot with the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the scallion whites, ginger and garlic. Saute until soft and fragrant, 5 minutes. Add the cilantro stems, lime zest, lime juice, chiles and lemongrass and saute for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the mussels, beer, coconut milk and lime leaves, then cover and allow to steam until the mussels open, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the fish sauce and stir to combine. Discard any mussels that do not open. Garnish with cilantro leaves.
• For the toasted bread: Preheat a saute pan over medium-high heat with a little vegetable oil. Add the baguette slices and toast on both sides until golden brown, 2 minutes per side. Remove from the pan and rub with the garlic clove. Serve alongside the mussels.

STEAMED MUSSELS, ASIAN STYLE

Steps:

• Put the oil in a saucepan large enough to hold all the mussels and turn the heat to medium. A minute later, add the scallion, ginger, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 minute.
• Add the mussels, turn the heat to high, and cover the pot. Cook, shaking the pot occasionally, until they all (or nearly all) open, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat.
• Scoop the mussels into a serving bowl. Add the soy sauce to the liquid, then pass it through a fine strainer (or a coarse one lined with cheesecloth). Pour the liquid over the mussels and serve.
• Variations
• Curried Steamed Mussels: Substitute butter for the oil. Substitute shallot for the scallion and omit the ginger and garlic. When the shallot is soft, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon curry powder and cook, stirring, for another 30 seconds. Cook and finish as directed, substituting the juice of 1 lime for the soy sauce.
• Thai Steamed Mussels: Use peanut oil. Add 1 lemongrass stalk, roughly chopped; 1 small dried hot red chile; and 2 lime leaves to the scallion, ginger, and garlic. Substitute nam pla (fish sauce) for the soy sauce.
• Steamed Clams with Soy: Most mussel recipes will work for steamers, which are also known as soft-shell clams. But steamers must be rinsed after shucking to remove all traces of sand, and you don't want to dilute these delicious broths by dipping clams into them one after the other. The solution is to substitute littlenecks-small hardshell clams, the kind served on the half shell and used for pasta with clam sauce-for the mussels. These contain no sand at all, but because their shells are heavier, use 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of littlenecks to replace each pound of mussels. Proceed exactly as directed.
• Mussels
• Every year, we see more and more cultivated mussels, most often from Prince Edward Island, which is fast becoming the mussel farming capital of North America. These are easy to clean (almost clean enough to eat without washing, but still worth a quick going over), with very few rejects and plump meat. Wild mussels are far tastier but harder to clean. When cleaning mussels, discard any with broken shells. If the mussels have beards-the hairy vegetative growth that is attached to the shell-trim them off. Those mussels that remain closed after the majority have been steamed open can be pried open with a knife (a butter knife works fine) at the table.

MUSSELS STEAMED WITH WHITE WINE AND CURRY LEAVES

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large lidded saucepan. Add the onion, tomatoes and curry leaves or cilantro, and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the vegetables soften.
• Stir in the cumin, and cook a few minutes longer, until the onion starts to brown. Season with salt.
• Add the mussels and wine, cover and cook over medium heat until the mussels open, about 8 minutes. Serve at once.