Saturday, March 10, 2012

Thai style mussel + coconut


  • Grate ginger and garlic
  • Get some spring onions. Finely chop the white part, roughly chop the green.
  • Fry the white + ginger + garlic in vegetable/sunflower oil for a minute, then add a mug or two of hot vegetable stock (I used a cube).
  • Add bashed lemongrass stalks, a spoon of fish sauce (or salt), a big squeeze of lime, a can of coconut milk and a spoon or so of sugar.
  • Bring to a simmer and let them all get friendly for five to ten minutes.
  • Add your mussels (I used Picard frozen), then red peppers and the green bits of the onion. Keep it going for another five or so.
  • Add coriander and if you can, thai basil. If you want to cleanse your soul, add fresh green chilies.
  • Serve with crusty French baguette for that authentic Thai touch.

What did it taste like? I am a sucker for anything with coconut milk. Or ginger. Or coriander. So this pleased me (and my dinner guest) immensely. On the stove I thought it was missing something, but once it had mingled, been served and cooled down to slurping temperature, it was divine. And it only took about 15 minutes.

Tips: 
  1. To prepare your lemongrass, behead and bebottom it, remove the outer layers then bash it with a wooden spoon. It will infuse your soup with its heavenly, lemony oils. Remove it before serving.
  2. The higher the percentage of coconut extract in your milk, the better.
  3. From what I know, Thai dishes often have a careful balance of sweet, salty, spicy and sour. Palm sugar, fish sauce, chili and lime are often used respectively to obtain the mix. You might have to play a bit to get the amounts right for you. 


3 comments:

  1. "behead and bebottom"... sheer genius!

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  2. Just made this soup... the flavours are wild and whacky, it worked really well. Delicious. I put the photo on Facebook... it looks very nice with the red pepper and green herbs. I found, like you, that a spoon was needed to lift up the mussels so that they would show up in the photo! Still haven't caught up with all the soups yet, but getting there. Please keep the recipes coming, they are fantastic.

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  3. Hey! This was one of my favourites. And super easy, huh? Thanks for your enthusiastic and continued support. More soup coming up!

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