Mussles in Tom Yum Broth

You may have figured by now, I love a good Tom Yum. With Prawn, with Fish, with all manner of Seafood, but also with Oxtails or even with Pork Knuckle. I don't even mind a simple Vegetarian Mushroom version. 

Just a few days ago I had the pleasure to revisit all my favorite Thai Restaurants In Male in the Maldives.

Still undefeated is of course Sala Thai Restaurant with its crisp clean and perfectly balaced flavour as well as the biggest Prawns, freshest Crab and prettiest Squid Curls. 

Today however I found myself wanting both a bowl full of fresh Mussels with chunky Bread to dip in or a Tom Yum of sorts. So I fused the two and made a Bowl of Mussels in a Tom Yum Broth with Chunky Bread to dip in!

I started by pounding 3 stalks of chopped Lemongrass (tender part only) with an inch of chopped Galangal and 3 hot chopped Chillies in my new Pestle and Mortar. The very talented and quite opinionated SheSimmers convinced me in a recent article on her blog, that pounding releases the Essential oils in parts of the plant, that the blades of a food processor will never reach. If it doesn't pound smooth enough, one can always finish the paste off in a food processor... and everyone is happy.

Now the paste goes into a large pan with 300ml of water a good splosh of Thai Fish Sauce, Some sliced Spring Onion, a couple of sliced Mushrooms, a couple of halved baby Plum Tomatoes and a few Kaffir Lime Leafes. Bring Everything to a simmer then add a bagful of Cleaned Mussels. 

Remember if they don't close after tapping them, when fresh, throw them away. And if they don't open after cooking, throw them out as well. 

Cover with a lid and cook just as long as it takes for the Mussels to open up. About 3-4 minutes.

Pour everything into a large serving Bowl and squeeze over the juice of 1Lime and sprinkle with Coriander.

As I already mentioned a nice chunk of Crusty bread will soak up the juices beautifully. But a spoon for the broth also comes in handy. The mussels can of course only be eaten by hand!

Moules Mariniere

Normally I like to add and chop and change and make a recipe my own, but sometimes a Classic just has to be done right. Mussels lend themselves to many different ways of cooking and are happy with a variety of sauces in which to cook. Yet sometimes the original is all we want. A straight forward comforting taste that you know and recognise and love.

Here is the Classic Recipe for Moules Mariniere unchanged and no added cream in sight.

Ingredients:

1 kg fresh Mussels, cleaned of beards and barnacles. Discard any that are open and will not close after being tapped or any broken ones.

1 Onion, very finely chopped

125ml good White Wine

1 handful fresh Parsley, finely chopped

20g Butter

Sea Salt and Black Pepper

Heat a large enough pot to hold all the Mussels. Sweat the Onion in the Butter for just a couple of minutes, then add the Wine and let it bubble until the alcohol has evaporated. Add the Parsley and season with Sea Salt and Black Pepper.

Drop in the Mussels, give the pot a little shimmy and cover with a lid. Leave to steam for a couple of minutes, then turn the Mussels over gently and cover again. Steam for a further 2 minutes and they should all have opened by now. Which means they are done!

Spoon the Mussels into warmed deep bowls with some of the liqueur poured over the top and serve with some fresh rustic French Stick. 

The best way to eat them is to break off half of the shell, then scoop some of the liqueur into the other half with the Mussel and eat it like an Oyster out of the shell. :-)