Mussels in Coconut Milk

I ventured out of my comfort zone a bit.

I finally made my own mussels dish. 

I've always been wary of making my own mussels and scallops at home. I'm not sure why I have been apprehensive about it, but that fear is definitely over.

These mussels in coconut milk were dribble worthy. The coconut milk simmer gravy is packed with flavor and just enough pepper to make you sniffle.

It is quick, the flavors are deep and I am sure, like me, you would sit with your legs crossed on the floor, with bread just sapping up the gravy.

I said it didn't take much to make this right?

How to clean mussels

Using fresh mussels is fine. But it requires a little more work than I would like to do. So if you want to get fresh mussels make sure you follow these tips from pei mussels.

When using raw (fresh) mussels, you have to scrub them off to get rid of any debris that may be stuck on these bad boys. And have you ever known that they open and close their shells when they are out of water? Yess.

I use frozen mussels also that I get sealed at Walmart.

I defrost them when I'm ready and clean them up. I'm sure they were cleaned prior to freezing but... I need to clean them myself.

Put them in a colander and run water through them. Scrub them while the water is running through.

When rinsing, make sure that they are closed. If they do not close you can try squeezing them (or even just tap them) while underwater and see if it closes. 

It didn't? Then THROW IT OUT!!

Ensuring that you season up mussels is important. It needs those flavors to be delicious.

Using shallots and onions and garlic really is what makes this dish so flavorful. 

Bringing out those flavors prior to adding the mussels into it is not only just good for the mussels but you and your bread would be happy about it later down when you're dipping.

Now, this needs to steam down in some form of liquid. 

Yea we can use water, but where's the flavor in that?

Using some coconut milk, and added curry. This would continue to build on the flavor levels we started creating with the onion, shallots, and garlic.




Steaming covered is important. 

Steaming and not boil. 

After bring the first level to a boil, lower to a lively simmer. This allows the mussels to take in the flavor and for the liquid to thicken up a it.

And they do not need to steam very long.

I suggest using a wide, shallow pan versus a deep one so that everything steams evenly.

And you need bread, or you can use pasta, but bread (even hard dough bread) is a must use.

When this was done, I emptied it all into a deep bowl, to hold that gravy and as I mentioned, I sat down, cross-legged, and dipped away.

And dipped, and dipped


Then I tackled the mussels. And the pearl onions. And the fresh garlic.

Can you tell I enjoyed this?


So now my fear of dealing with mussels are gone. And I already am ready to whip up another recipe.

The next tackle is going to be scallops.

Any pointers for those??