Thai Red Curry Mussels - Food Network Fans

Thai Red Curry Mussels
PicBuddy Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 384 Recipes: 8 Rep Power: 0	Description: This is my favorite seafood recipe for 2008. I have made it about 20 times, and my wife is getting tired of it, but I can't stop playing with it. I've tweaked it in a lot of ways, but this is the very basic version. It's extremely simple, it's low cost, and every single person I have ever served it to, loved it. (I have served it to over 40 people). And you will not believe the aroma. This is one that will make your neighbors wonder what in the world you are cooking! I have to credit Bobby Flay for getting me to try this, as I saw it on one of his "Boy Meets Grill" episodes around December 2007. It looked really easy, I found that I had easy access to all of the ingredients, so I picked up a new favorite. This certainly can not be called a Bobby Flay recipe, as when looking up the recipe online, this seems to be pretty basic, and probably has been a basic Thai recipe for hundreds of years (or longer). This recipe is for (2) people, but you can easily use your stock to cook more batches of the shellfish pot after pot until everyone is full. We have actually chilled the broth and used it again the next day to cook more mussels. The largest amount I ever served, was 14 pounds of mussels at my Grandmothers 86th Birthday party with about 30 relatives, many of whom had never eaten Thai food, or even mussels. It was a smash hit, even with people that normally prepare / expect southern foods at our family get-togethers. One of the most important issues about this recipe is that to make it cheap and authentic, you really will probably need access to an Asian store or market. Check out the ingredients and if you can get them, go for it! I hope you will try it out! (And please let me know what you think).
Other:	Ingredients:
Time: 1 Hour or less Difficulty: Easy (and cheap!) Serving Size: 2 People	(3 to 4) Pounds frozen (or live) mussels (You should be able to find frozen packages of cooked/semi-cleaned mussels for only $2 a pound and they are sometimes called the 'poor mans oyster') (3) 14 ounce cans of coconut milk (cheapest brand is fine, best to get cans from Thailand at your Asian grocery store) (2-3) 4 oz. cans of Red Curry Paste. (Again, best to get at your local Asian store, a 4 oz can should only be $1. If buying in a mainstream grocery store it's way more expensive) (Note on the curry paste - It contains some heat, so if you want lower heat, use only (2) 4 oz cans. I use (3) 4 oz. cans Thai red chile peppers (aka bird peppers, finger peppers) - Again, available at Asian stores. At a minimum, use at least 3, I personally use about 30! These are hot but the mussels can take it. (Dried whole red chiles also work, and as a last resort, Serrano peppers will work) 5 stalks Lemon Grass (Available fresh at Asian stores) (1) cup of Fish Sauce (Asian stores, liquid that looks like vinegar but is fish based, simply called "fish sauce") Kaffir Lime Leaves (or 2 limes) Thai Basil (Asian produce section, if you can find real Thai Basil you are blessed and it's so much different) (SUB) If you can't get real Thai Basil, have a bunch of Cilantro Cup of white wine, like Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio, drinking quality. If you won't drink it, don't cook with it. And if you don't have any wine, you can actually leave it out.
Preparation:
You'll need a big stock pot, I use about an 8 quart aluminum just to have a lot of room to work with. Wide and deep works really good. Your favorite big stirring spoon.
Instructions:
Put your big ol pot on the heat at medium high with the coconut milk. Add the Red Curry Paste, and Kaffir Lime Leaves. (If you can't get lime leaves, wait until later as lime juice can be added at the end). Stir well, and cover, adjusting heat to a slight simmer, or just under. Now a question of (pepper) heat. REAL Thai dishes like this will use around (30) red Thai chile peppers. That's how I make it. The mussels can take a HUGE amount of heat that does not absorb into them, so while this seems scary to people whom may not like foods that light your palate on fire, be open minded here. At a bare minimum put at least 3 peppers in, washed whole and uncut. Cutting them open and leaving the seeds in makes them hotter. Cutting them open and removing the seeds, lowers the heat a bit. I chop them and put seeds and all in. Take your lemon grass and smash it good. I just take it outside and smash it with a hammer on a brick on concrete. Then cut into 1" pieces and throw all of it in there. While it doesn't hurt anything if the concoction comes up to a boil, I like to keep it on a low simmer or just below. However long you want to keep this cooking is up to you. If you have real Kaffir lime leaves in it, an hour or more is ideal. Got some hungry eaters? Even 10-15 minutes is quite fine. Personally I may leave it like that for an hour or even two. The aroma is magnificent. Husband has the boys over for a game and you are not sure when to serve this? Heck, you can low simmer this (stirring every now and then) for 5 hours if you want. This dish has no time constraints, it's all up to whatever you feel like doing. A wonderful thing about it. Clean your mussels. If you have frozen ones that are already cooked, I have found that they already have the "beard" removed most of the time. With fresh live ones, you will have to remove the beard. Cleaning Mussels - Allrecipes It's easy. Scrub them down and rinse them good. Whenever you feel like serving them in just a few minutes time, turn the heat all the way up and get the soup/broth/stock (whatever you want to call it), boiling (as when you add the shellfish it's gonna instantly drop the temp). Toss all of your mussels in, pour in the white wine, and about a cup of fish sauce. If you did not have Kaffir lime leaves, fresh squeeze 1-2 limes in now as well. Have a good spoon on hand and keep stirring frequently. While this is finishing, chop up your Thai basil (or Cilantro) and have in a bowl. In fact you can use both Thai Basil and Cilantro if you have both. Frozen cooked mussels will take about 8 minutes, just cook until they are all open. Live ones at room temp will only take 3-5 minutes. Discard any closed shellfish. When everything is open, test one to make sure it's hot and done (140F should have been reached), remove the pot from the heat and cover. Several ways to serve. I just tell everyone, "Okay they are done" and let them serve themselves, using a large strainer spoon to extract however many they want. Just toss the Thai Basil in the bowl they will be eating from and throw the mussels on top. That basil is mainly for aroma. Let them know that the pieces of lemongrass, the basil/cilantro, peppers and soup are not for eating, and they are only after the meat. Another way to serve is on a platter on top of the Thai basil or cilantro at the table. Steaming hot. A third way is to serve as a soup, with the mussels in a bowl, a cup of broth poured over them, and then the basil or cilantro on the top. When serving this way, if you include some garlic bread, it is perfect to dip in the broth. But do know this, the broth is NOT a soup! Look at the sodium levels in red curry paste and that will show you, it's not a soup. Let your friends know that the method of eating, is to get the meat out of the shells and that's all that is designed for eating. As unless you friends have leather throats, iron stomachs and/or have drank a lot of beer first, the broth is going to be way too hot and spicy to eat like a soup. It's only there for the flavor and should be discarded with the empty mussel shells. Always make sure your eaters have extra bowls to deposit the empty shells in. And make sure they have a good number of paper towels or napkins. Small crab forks do work perfectly. The reason you do not add the Thai Basil or Cilantro to the mixture itself is to avoid the herbs from becoming bitter. The added advantage to this, is that you can refrigerate the left over coconut milk/red curry/lemongrass/wine/fish sauce/pepper broth overnight and cook more in it the next day. When doing that you will find an even more complex dish of wonderfully melded flavors. I really hope you can get fresh Thai Basil as that makes a major flavor here. It almost tastes like licorice. But if you can't Cilantro is a fine substitute. Don't be afraid of the "hot". This is a spicy combination of ingredients, and it may be a dish that has more pepper heat than anything you would ever imagine making. But have an open mind. The coconut milk and lime juice offsets the pepper heat with sweet and sour, and the mussel meat itself doesn't absorb this hotness. So the broth is pretty much a passive flavoring. Let's put it this way, my Grandma when turning 86 (and whom will not even eat a Jalapeno), came back for seconds. So have faith, while this may sound like it will burn your face off, it won't, it works and even the kids will love it. That's about it. Oh yes, do NOT add any salt. The red curry paste has plenty in it already. And have fun playing around with it. One night I chopped up two entire Habanero peppers and threw the whole things, seeds and all in there, much to my wife's horror. And sure, you could taste them, but even that much heat does not penetrate the mussel meat. This dish is so much fun to play with, because you can't really mess it up. You can go from a total novice to a talented Thai chef in an hour (to your friends and family). Enjoy!

08-24-2008, 11:43 AM	#2 (permalink)
cyberdoc Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: National Capitol Area Posts: 368 Recipes: 1 Rep Power: 1	Sounds yummy. I'm going to have to give it a try. __________________ The Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark was built by amateurs. Who do you trust?