South Indian Inspired Mixed Seafood
This recipe initially started with the idea of a tadka bring drizzled on pre-cooked seafood (I will still do this but another time) but evolved to become something more elegant and impressive for a special occasion. I’ve used head and shell-on prawns, mussels and cockles in this mix to make it that bit more affordable AND with a decent bulk of everything. If you wanted to go full glam though, swap in some jumbo king prawns, clams or razor clams.
The quantities below give enough for four people to share as a starter, if, and only if, you’re getting the good stuff from a proper fishmonger. Remember, while fishmongers are a bit more expensive, they’re fresher, more sustainable and especially with shellfish, much bigger in size! For example, the prawns in the picture aren’t even kings. Yes, look again, massive right?
Ingredients
2tbsp Oil
½ tbsp Mustard Seeds
1tsp Cumin Seeds
2 Shallots, finely diced
10-15 Fresh Curry Leaves
1tsp Garlic, grated
2tsp Ginger, grated
1 Finger Chilli, cut lengthways but remaining in ta
1kg Mussels (fresh)
10 Prawns (head and shell on)
1kg Cockles (in shell)
100ml White Wine
100ml Coconut Milk (from can)
1tsp Salt
1 Bunch Coriander, roughly chopped
Method
Prepare mussels by putting in cold water for 10mins before pulling off their beards and checking all are closed before cooking. Any that have not closed, discard.
Heat a large, lidded pan with the oil and mustard and cumin seeds.
When the seeds start gently popping, add in the shallots, curry leaves, garlic, ginger and chilli. Keep the heat on low-medium to encourage all of these flavours to come through into the oil, and to soften the shallots. This should take about 5-7mins
Add in all of the shellfish, giving everything a big and thorough stir and mix.
Pour in the white wine and put the lid on.
After about 3mins, quickly pour the coconut milk in and sprinkle in the salt, put the lid back on and give the pan a good shake and leave for another 3-4mins.
After this time, check to see the mussels and cockles have opened up, and the prawns have turned a light pink. If they haven’t, put the lid on, shake and leave for another 1-2mins. We want all of the seafood to be just cooked, which means tender and soft NOT rubbery or overly firm.
Just before tipping everything onto a large plate, add most of the coriander into the pan and mix.
Once plated up, sprinkle the remaining coriander onto the top and serve with fresh bread (baguette, chapati, naan) to mop up the sweet juices.