I used to refer to myself as a Pescetarian, a fish loving vegetarian, but have now adopted a new appellation, Vegacquarian, to sum up my preferred regime. I stole this new moniker from the lovely signorina at Napoli Restaurant Alert. Mind you, I’m not too holy grailish about this diet I adopted 37 years ago after travelling through India and Nepal. Mr Tranquillo, often calls me the evil veggo as, on occasion, I like to bite the end off someone’s chorizo and am rather partial to an overdone baked chicken wing, free range of course. The skinny end of a crispy bacon rasher is a wonderful hangover cure and life is too short not to have a slice of prosciutto on Christmas Day. Maybe I’ll just steal a slice of that paper thin sorpressa that I bought for the visitatori. These fleeting incursions into the land of carnivore make me quite happy. Am I on the cusp of conversion? Or will my Lenten life always be peppered with pleasure from these meaty raids?
Given my partiality to flesh of the fishy kind, it can be a job in itself sourcing sustainable and cheap seafood. When a lovely bag of freshly harvested black mussels turns up, it is a happy day for many reasons. Mussels are the ultimate fast food. They are sustainable, cheap and organic. They contain omega -3 oils, selenium ( an anti- oxidant), and iodine, as well as a being a source of protein and iron. Very good news for a Vegacquarian on a budget!
This simple Thai styled recipe comes from Charmaine Solomon: it’s fast and easy to prepare. Put your rice on first, as this dish takes around 10 minutes to make.
Mussels in Red Curry sauce. Serves Four.
- 1 kilo mussels
- 185 ml coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons Red Curry Paste ( bought or home-made)
- 2 kaffir lime leaves
- 1-2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 red chilli, finely sliced
- 2 spring onions, sliced diagonally.
Method. Clean mussels and de-beard them. Place in a saucepan and add 185 ml or 3/4 cup of water. Cover and cook over high heat, shaking the pan occasionally. When the shells open (they only take a minute or so), remove them with tongs. Do not discard those that don’t open:there is nothing wrong with them. Remove the top shells, then strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve or muslin.
Heat 125 ml of coconut milk in a saucepan until oil appears around the edges, mix in the red curry paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant. Stir in the remaining coconut milk, the reserved cooking liquid, lime leaves, fish sauce, and sugar. Stir until the mixture simmers. Simmer for 5 – 10 minutes. Add the lime juice, red chill and spring onion, and ladle the sauce over the mussels. Serve with rice.
Recipe from The Seafood Book, Charmaine Solomon, Hamlyn, 1993.
ALMOST ITALIAN 
Wow, this looks simply delicious! Amazing recipe 🙂
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Thanks Becca- it is too easy.
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I am just discovering how easy and versatile mussels are. I must have thought that they were too much hassle to cook. How wrong I was! Thanks for this recipe. I will give it a go very soon. 😊
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Thanks Anne- yes, they are versatile and so easy to prepare, and still relatively cheap.
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Francesca
You would love the blog “Italy on my mind” check it out. Yum, love mussels and will do this ASAP. S x
Sent from my iPad.
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Just checked it out- good one indeed!!! Thanks Suzanne.
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Ahh, this looks the bees knees Mrs Italian! Love, love mussels and this looks delish. Your self-description cracks me up…Vegacquarian! Having once been a vegetarian, it was also seafood that was my undoing. (And bacon, and chorizo, and roast chicken, and…well..you get my drift…) Still, veggies are my great love. (And fish, and prawns, and….got to stop.)
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i have to say that I stole that description from Mrs Napoli.
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I love live black mussels! They’re so tender and sweet. I love seafood but do get pork and other cravings too (I suspect more if I were denied them!) so I’d be an evil veggo.
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This sounds lovely and what better carriage to mop up all that sauce then fluffy white rice? Yum!
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Thanks Helen, the best part is all that sauce.
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Since I saw your previous mussel post, they have been on my mind but encountered them via TV appearances (MKR & Matthew Evans I think) only but will track them down… I have another reason to now – yum 🙂
I happily eat veges as a preference with modest additions of protein but the G.O. loves meat although his tastes are evolving. We muddle along in the middle, a bit of everything as best we can afford & acquire and not too much of anything. I have no idea what that makes us other than older & wiser!
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Older and wiser it makes us all when we are conscious of the eating choices we make.
Mussels are so cheap and fast to preare.
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Hey Francesca .. this sounds absolutely yummy! Another must try for me. And I shan’t throw out the mussels that don’t open either. Looking forward to not doing that! 😀
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Very good indeed…never thought of mussel curry. We live in Mussel land here, so it’s something that I have to try.
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Mussels and curry are great friends, which reminds me of a great French dish with a milder curry sauce, Mouclade, which I’ll do next.
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I’ve been meaning to make a curry dish and you just gave me an idea. This looks delicious.
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