Cornish mussels stir-fried In lemon basil, chilli, green peppercorns, coconut & turmeric

In the UK the best season for harvesting molluscs is winter into early spring so now is the perfect time to have a crack at this recipe. As with any stir-fry, it’s best to have all your ingredients at the ready and just an arm’s length away before you start cooking. Due to the high intensity of cooking on a wok, things can burn fast. Having everything ready to go, means you can concentrate on the cooking technique, rather than realising you have run out of coconut milk, whilst burning your mussels. To prepare the mussels, make sure to have an empty sink with a slow, cold running water tap and tackle them one at a time. Pick up the mussel, firstly using your fingers pull out the beard, which is the bit that looks like a cluster of hair coming out of the hinge end of the mollusc. If the mussel is open, hold it under the cold running water, if it doesn’t close then bin it as its dead. Lastly, using a tablespoon scrape off any barnacles connected to the outer shell until it is just the black, mussel shell left. Once cleaned, store in a perforated container or colander in the fridge, so the bottom ones do not get drowned and place a damp towel over the top. Mussels will last longer in a dark, damp place, clustered together. For best results consume within a day or two of preparation.

Ingredients (serves2)

500g, fresh mussels, beards and any barnacles removed from the shells (read introduction for help with doing this)

1 big handful lemon basil, Thai basil can be used instead and is more readily available

3 long red chillies, chopped into roll cuts with most seeds removed.

10g green peppercorns,

4 makrut lime leaves

1 makrut lime, zested and juiced, seeds removed and discarded (can only be purchased frozen in the UK, can be swapped for a lime, the taste is very different but still makes for a tasty stir-fry)

50g fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into matchsticks

1 teaspoon caster sugar

½ teaspoon ground white pepper (black will do)

50ml fish sauce

400ml coconut milk

100ml fish or chicken stock

50ml rapeseed oil for stir-frying

For the paste:

50g, peeled garlic

50g peeled fresh turmeric

1 banana shallot, peeled & chopped small

2 coriander roots (leave out if you cannot find)

1 pinch coarse sea salt

2 red birds eye chillies

1 teaspoon mild curry powder

Method:

Firstly, start with making the paste. As always a pestle and mortar is the best way to combine ingredients into a paste, as it mashes the ingredients together harmoniously, rather than chopping them up. However, if you’re in a rush or don’t have a pestle and mortar, you can stick the peeled garlic, fresh turmeric, shallot, coriander roots, red birds eye chilli, coarse sea salt and mild curry powder into a food processor and combine to a coarse paste.

Now you have the paste ready, prepare all other ingredients within arms reach of the wok and get a large wok, heating over a high heat. Into this hot wok, firstly add the rapeseed oil, when hot add the paste, green peppercorns and the makrut lime leaves and continue to scrape and move for 1-2 minutes, until the paste is fragrant and the smell has jumped out the pan and all around the kitchen, be sure to keep this moving constantly so it does not burn. Once the paste begins to darken a little, add the sugar and the soy sauce and continue to stir-fry until the sugar has caramelised, this should take around a minute, if the wok is too hot you can turn it down a little here.

When the paste is cooked and seasoned add the stock, coconut milk, ground white pepper and the roll cut chillies, stir well and bring this back to a simmer, you can place the lid to the wok on if you like. When simmering add the mussels to this broth gently, making sure not to break any shells, gently stir the mussels into the broth and then continue to simmer for 3-5 minutes, until ALL mussels are open, this shows that they are ready for eating. Once again, if you have a lid  to the wok it may be easier to put this on to ensure all the mussels are in the heat.

At this point, turn off the heat and add the lemon basil, chopped ginger, makrut lime zest and juice and then serve. Serve accompanied with steamed jasmine rice and empty bowls for the used mollusc shells. If you are really pushing the hospitality boat out, it’s also a nice idea to serve with warm, citrus water finger bowls, so diners can dip their dirty fingers clean as they eat.