Mussels Steamed and Dressed
With soy, ginger, lemon and nam-jim spicy lime, cucumber. Sweet, plump steamed mussels enhanced with asian-inspired dressings.
Ingredients
- 1 kg Boston Bay mussels
Soy, ginger and lemon dressing
- 1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp mirin (or sweet sherry)
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
- 15 g green shallots very finely sliced
- 2 tbsp mussels stock (see note)
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Nam-jim, spicy lime and cucumber dressing
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 30 ml fish sauce
- 30 ml palm sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1/2 small red chilli, seeded and finely diced
- 15 g red onion, finely diced
- 45 g Lebanese cucumber, deseeded and diced
- 2 tbsp coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Arrange the mussels in a steamer basket over a pot or wok of boiling water OR add 100ml of water to a large heavy based pot and bring to the boil, then add the mussels. Cook covered for 3-4 minutes or until the mussels have opened and the meat has pulled away from the shell. Prize open any unopened mussels with a knife.
- Note: Keep some of the mussel stock that is left from cooking to add to the dressing.
- Combine the soy, lemon, mirin, ginger, shallots and mussel stock in a small bowl. Spoon onto steamed mussels and sprinkle over the sesame seeds.
- In a small bowl mix together the lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Taste to check that the sauce is sour, sweet and salty. If not adjust with extra to balance the flavour. Stir in the chilli, red onion, cucumber and coriander, then add 2 tablespoons of the mussels stock left from steaming. Spoon the dressing over the steamed mussels and serve immediately.
- Remove the top shell and arrange the mussels in the “half-shell” on a platter, spoon on some the dressing and serve. Serve the dressings in small bowls as well for those that want more. To create a delicious mussel salad simply add salad herbs, crisp vegetables and noodles to the Asian dressings.
