Friday, April 13, 2007

MUSSELS


I was making an ‘easy chicken thoran recipe’. I got it from one of the TV shows I guess. then boss told me it tastes like the masala for mussels. so we decided to try that.
I never tried mussels before. I used to eat it when we go to Trivandrum. there is a restaurant called sagara at vazhuthacaud junction. It will be crowded always. As soon as one person gets up the next one would be sitting. It is not a fancy restaurant very ordinary looking restaurant with very little space. They have the most tastiest sea food items I have ever tried. I remember having idiyappam and mussels one day.
But I was under the impression that cleaning mussels is a huge task. But boss told me he would do the cleaning and washing .so I thought then why not give it a try!!
Here is the recipe for the mussels I make. The pictures are not that good. It s actually very hot, and looks almost kind of red. But this pic doesn’t look that red because I did not have enough time to fry it ,lunch time was already lateJ

Mussels- I buy the frozen pack, it has two separate packets of mussels in it and I use both. (You would get about 15 to 20 ).

Place that packet in microwave, in a microwave safe plate. Make sure you make a few punctures in the pack before you place it in microwave. I use 6 minutes to cook it. After that take only the mussels that are opened and discard the un opened ones. I cut the black, hairy thing away. Wash it lightly.

Powder about 1 table spoon of chili powder,1/2 table spoon coriander powder,1/2 table spoon garam masala,3/4 tea spoon fennel seeds, about 1 ½ teaspoon of black peppers. make a powder of all these.

Chop one big onion. Chop ginger and garlic too.(take as much as you need, the more the merrier).

In a skillet, heat oil, take according to your taste and need .I take about a table spoon of oil. Fry a couple of cloves, a small piece of cinnamon and one whole cardamom. After that add the chopped ginger and garlic. Fry for a couple of minutes. Then add onion. Stir till the color changes slightly. Then add the powdered masala. Stir again. Now add the clean mussels and stir well. Let the masala coat the mussels well. Add salt. After a couple more minutes add grated coconut(fresh or dry, as much as you need, I add about ½ cup ).stir again. Check to see if you need more chili or salt. Add whatever is needed. Keep on stirring till you get a brown color. If you need, add some more oil. Now add a handful of chopped fresh coconuts(optional). Keep stirring. When you think it has the brown color it is ready. It doesn’t take that much time, since the mussels are already cooked. The more time it stays on stove, and continues stirring you will get better taste, but don’t burn it.. Add some curry leaves on top .ready to eat.

Adding grated coconut is also optional. But it makes it even tastier.

4 comments:

bee said...

happy vishu, girlie.

Meera's Blog said...

thank u beee:)i didnt get any fresh flowers from our backyard this yr for vishukani:(

Reena said...

beens, does this mussel have shells? black ones? let me know. i will try this one then.

Meera's Blog said...

ys reenie,it has black shells.try,the more u do 'varattal',the best:)