Asian Stir Fried Green Mussels

Who likes clams and mussels? You will love this super simple recipe and it's the prep work that's more of a hassle than the actual cooking.  This recipe works for clams and any shell fish.

For 300g of green lipped mussels, you'll need:

• 3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 small nob of ginger, julianed
• 2 shallots, sliced (or 1 large shallot)
• half a chilli, sliced and seeds removed
• salt to taste
• 6 tbsp of shao xing wine or white wine
• 1/3 cup of water or stock
• about 6 tbsp of oil, or enough to cover all the ginger, garlic and shallots

1. Soak and rinse the mussels at least 3 times to get rid of any sand or dirt
2. Heat up a wok or frying pan with oil (I used olive) and when hot, toss in the shallots
3. Once the shallots turn translucent, add in the garlic and ginger
4. When the garlic turns brown, add in the chilli and then the mussels
5. Stir fry the mussels until the garlic, ginger, chilli and shallots cover them evenly
6. Add in the wine
7. Stir briefly before adding the water/stock and salt to taste
8. Cover for about 3 minutes until all the shells open properly and the gravy boils
9. Dish out and serve

If you don't really like spice, you can opt not to add in the chilli or use it only as a garnish.  If you like to be able to drink the sauce/ gravy, add in more wine and stock.  Total cooking time is under 10 minutes, shorter for small clams.  I ate this with rice so I didn't really add in a lot of salt but if you're cooking it with spaghetti, I recommend adding in a little bit more salt and garlic so that the spaghetti/ pasta gets more flavour.  I wouldn't add too much water either as you would want it to be more of an aglio olio spaghetti.  Unless, of course, you prefer the more Japanese style of soup pasta, then go ahead and add more liquid. If you want it less Asian tasting, do not add ginger and use white wine instead of Shao Xing.