Banging my head for not making this biryani all these years, at the same time dancing to glory after enjoying a whole plate of this biryani. Chicken and mutton biryani are the most famous biryani’s in India, but for me I have a soft corner towards shrimp and king fish biryani. Now, one more favorite I can add: mussel biryani.

Don’t ask me how my weekend was. The laziest weekend ever, blaming on the rainy weather. Just wondering, why does it have to rain most of the time during spring??? Hmm, the good thing was I just lazed at home watching TV, browsing etc. I guess unproductive weekends should be welcomed once in a while. Woke up real late today as the sun kept hiding among the dark clouds and the day felt like night. Even a cup of strong coffee couldn’t activate my foggy brain. When my starving hubby pleaded for a good heavy lunch, I couldn’t resist entering into the kitchen after a few rounds of whining, obviously. Seeing the mussels in the freezer, the idea of making mussel biryani triggered my foggy brain. And it turned out to be the best Sunday lunch.

Mussel Biryani:

Ingredients

For Marinating mussel:

• Mussels, cleaned- 2 pounds or 1 bag
• Chilly powder- 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1 tsp
• Salt- to taste

For frying

• Oil- enough to shallow fry mussels

For making the masala:

To grind:

• Garlic, cloves- 5 no’s
• Ginger- 2 inch slice
• Green chillies- 3 no’s
• Cardamom whole- 3 no’s
• Cloves- 2 no’s
• Cinnamon- 2 inch slice

Sauteing:

• Onion, cut thin lengthwise- 4 no’s
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Tomatoes, chopped-2
• Chilly powder- 1/2 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1 tsp
• Yogurt- 3 tbsp
• Salt- to taste
• Cilantro, chopped- 2 handfuls

For making Rice

• Basmati Rice- 1 1/2 cups
• Water- 2 1/2 cups
• Garam masala- 1 tsp
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

• Clean the mussels under running water.
• Combine the mussels with the above mentioned “for marinating mussel” ingredients.
• Shallow fry the mussels in oil till golden in color, keep aside on a paper towel.
• Don’t over fry the mussels as it will turn crispy.
  
• Rinse the basmati rice under running water.
• In a rice cooker: combine rice, water, garam masala and salt, cook till the rice is well done, keep aside.
• In a large wide pan, add 4-5 tbsp of oil used for frying mussels.
• Add onions, curry leaves and little salt, saute till onions turn tender.
• Grind garlic, ginger, green chillies and whole garam masala into a coarse paste.
• Add the ground mixture to the onions, saute for sometime and let onions turn light brown in color.
• Add tomatoes, cook till it gets mashed.
• Add the fried mussels along with chilly powder, fennel powder and yogurt to it.
• Combine everything well.
• Let the masala with mussels cook for sometime, the masala shouldn’t be too watery.
• Now, add the cooked rice combining well after each addition.
• Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.
• Remove from the heat and keep it covered for 10 minutes.
• Serve warm along with raita, pickle or papad.

Tips:

• Adjust the spice level according to your needs.

I lack words when it comes to describe the taste of this dish, it’s truly an exquisite! Growing up in a family like mine where there is a blend of different South Indian cultures and cuisines, I always had a chance to taste different types of South Indian cuisine; for instance: Malabar, TamilNadu and Kerala. Even though most of the ingredients used in these cuisines are almost the same, they all got a totally distinct flavor and taste. I absolutely admire Malabar cuisine, all their dishes are rich and I haven’t come across a single dish which I actually disliked, all of them are just fabulous.

Mussel stuffed rice dumpling is a very popular appetizer in Malabar cuisine. They got a few totally unique ways of making mussels, this is just one of them. Elayappam or Rice dumplings with sweet stuffing (Jack fruit or Mung dal) in it which are wrapped in banana leaves and then steamed is a popular snack in Kerala cuisine. This appetizer is quite similar to elayappam, but stuffed with roasted mussels.

I’ve mentioned many times in my blog about my deep love for mussels and for all shell fish, I feel satiated when I say that over and over. My favorite way of devouring mussels are by frying them, so for making the mussel roast I first shallow fried the mussels and made the roast with it. I used rice flour seasoned with some spices to make the dough. Stuffed the dough with the mussel roast and wrapped it in a banana leaf. Steamed the dumplings in a bamboo steamer for about 5 minutes.

Mussel stuffed dumplings were tender and the stuffing tasted heavenly, the earthy flavor imparted by the banana leaf enhanced the taste of the dumplings incredibly.

“Chippi” means mussel in Malayalam (Kerala’s official language)

In North America, you could find frozen banana leaves in most of the Asian super markets and in some Indian stores.

Mussel Stuffed Dumplings or Chippi Appam

Makes: 7 dumplings

Ingredients:

For making the Rice Dough:

• Rice flour- 1 1/2 cups
• Water- 1 cup
• Grated coconut- 1/4 cup
• Ground fennel- 1 tsp
• Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
• Ground turmeric- 1/4 tsp
• Salt- to taste

For making Mussel Roast:

For marination:

• Mussel, medium size- 1 bag or about 25 no’s
• Chilly powder- 1 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Ground turmeric- 2 pinches
• Salt- to taste

Shallow Frying:

• Oil- for shallow frying

Making Roast:

• Oil- 3 tbsp, used for frying mussel
• Red onion, chopped small- 1 large
• Ginger minced- 2 tsp
• Garlic, minced- 2 tsp
• Green chilly, cut small- 1
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Tomato, chopped- 1
• Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
• Ground Fennel- 1 tsp
• Ground Coriander- 1 1/2 tsp
• Salt- little

Other ingredients:

• Oil- for greasing the banana leaves
• Banana leaves

Preparation:

Step 1: Shallow frying Mussel:

• Marinate the mussel with the above mentioned ingredients for marination.
• Heat a frying pan and add enough oil for shallow frying (don’t have to add too much oil)
• Add the mussels in oil and shallow fry it, don’t over fry it till it turns crispy.
• Transfer on a paper towel and keep aside.

Step 2: Making Mussel Roast:

• Place a large pan over medium heat.
• Add the same oil used for frying the mussels.
• Add onions and little salt, saute till it turns tender.
• To the onions, add minced ginger, garlic, chilly and curry leaves.
• Cook till the onions starts to get caramelized.
• Add the chopped tomato and let it get mashed.
• Add all the masalas: ground fennel, ground coriander and garam masala, combine well.
• Put the shallow fried mussels to it and cook for a couple of minutes.
• If the mixture is too dry, add little water to it and cook.
• Remove from the heat and keep aside covered.

Step 3: Making dough:

• Tip: For making soft and better tasting dough, use roasted rice flour: if you are using store bought rice flour, roast it in a pan or oven ( 350 F) till it starts to turn light golden. Be careful not to over roast it or burn it.
• Boil the water in a saucepan.
• Add grated coconut, salt, ground fennel, turmeric powder and garam masala to it.
• When the water comes to a boil, add rice flour and combine it using a wooden spoon.
• Remove from the heat and let cool down for a few minutes.
• You should start kneading, when the dough is still warm.
• Knead it for 3 minutes until it’s well incorporated.
• If the dough is hard while kneading, sprinkle little hot water to it.
• Keep aside, covered with a damp towel.

Step 4: Stuffing and Wrapping the dumplings:

• If you have a long banana leaf, cut it into 4 parts or so.
• Wash the banana leaf well under running water.
• Place it over low flame of your stove to wilt it, so that it won’t tear apart.
• Wipe the leaves with a paper towel.
• Grease the banana leaf with little oil.
• Take a small ball out of the prepared dough.
• Place it on the banana leaf.
• Using your hand, flatten it to a round shape, don’t make it too thin. You could use little oil to flatten the dough.
• Place 1 tbsp or so of mussel roast over it. Don’t over stuff it.
• Carefully close the dough and paste the edges.
• Gently press a fork on the edge of the dumpling to make the marking (optional).
• Wrap the stuffed dumpling with banana leaf, keep aside.
• Place the wrapped dumpling in a bamboo steamer and close it with its lid.
• I used bamboo steamer to steam cook, you could use regular steamer or keep the dumpling in a bowl covered with aluminum foil.
• Add 1/2 cup water to a large wide pan, place it over medium heat.
• Place the bamboo steamer over the hot water and let it steam cook for about 6 minutes.
• After 6 minutes, carefully open the steamer and using a spatula to take the dumplings out and place it on a plate.
• Repeat this till you have steamed all the dumplings.
• Serve hot as an appetizer.

Tips:

• You can make the stuffing with shrimp or chicken as well. Follow the same recipe.
• Using this recipe, you can only make 7 dumplings, double the amount for making the dough so that you can use all of the mussel roast.
• If there is any mussel roast remaining, you can have that along with any rotis, chapatis, rice etc.

Couscous has been always my favorite quick fix meals. Each time I make couscous, I throw different ingredients to it like chicken, veggies, dates, nuts and sea food. Among them, couscous combined with shell fish is my most preferred way of devouring it. I added two of my my favorite shell fish: shrimp and mussels. This is a complete meal that can be made effortlessly in very less time. This could be made ahead of time and refrigerated to enjoy for next day lunch.

Shellfish Couscous:

Ingredients:

• Shrimp, deveined, de shelled, large- 15 no’s
• Mussels, cleaned- 15 no’s
• Onion, chopped- 2
• Tomato, chopped-1
• Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 tbsp
• Green chilly, chopped- 1
• Garam Masala- 1/2 tsp
• Chilly powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Fennel powder- 2 tsp
• Cilantro, chopped- 1 handful
• Water- 1 cup
• Couscous- 11 4/ cups
• Oil- 1 tbsp
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

• Devein and de shell the shrimp and wash it under running water.
• Clean the mussels and wash under running water.

• Place a wide non-stick pan over medium heat, add oil to it.
• Add the chopped onions to it followed by little salt, let it turn translucent.
• Add ginger-garlic paste and green chilly saute for few minutes.
• Add chopped tomato and let it get mashed.
• Add the garam masala and saute for a minute.
• Add chilly powder, turmeric powder, fennel powder, salt and combine well.
• Add the shrimp and mussels, cover with the lid and let the shell fish cook for about 10 minutes or so.

• If the mixture is getting dry, add little water to it.
• Add the chopped cilantro and combine everything.
• Once the shell fish has cooked well, pour 1 cup water to it.
• Let the water come to a rolling boil.
• Add 1 1/4 cups couscous, immediately cover the pan with its lid and remove the pan from the stove.

• Let it stand for 3-4 minutes.
• Open the pan, combine the couscous with a fork.
• Serve the couscous on a plate topped with shrimp and mussels.

Tips:

• You could make this with boneless chicken.
• Make sure the chicken has cooked well before you add couscous.
• Adjust the spice level according to your needs.
• You could even add crab to this.

Yesterday, I had a shopping spree at the Farmers fresh market and came back home with lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. I was excited about the cute little pumpkin I had bought and wanted to make something with it right away. Too many ideas rushed through my mind from baking to sautéing and finally I had to fall for the soup idea. Any day, any time I can have soup, in fact soup has always been my great companion.

I topped the pumpkin soup with fried mussels, made a cobweb out of caramelized sugar and placed a fried mussel over it which looked like a bug, at least to me

Have a Creepy Halloween!

Roasted Pumpkin Soup Topped with Fried Mussel

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin, small-1
• Ground Pepper- 1 1/2 tsp
• Heavy Cream (optional)- 1/2 cup
• Olive oil- 2 tbsp

To make Homemade Vegetable Broth:

• Carrot, cubed- 1
• Celery, diced-2 stalks
• Onion, diced-1
• Thyme- 1 sprig
• Rosemary- 1 sprig
• Basil, dried- 1 1/2 tsp
• Water- 3 cups
• Salt- as per your needs

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 425 F.
• Here is the cute little pumpkin:

• Cut the pumpkin along with the skin to medium sized chunks, drizzle with olive oil and line them on a baking sheet.
• Roast the pumpkin in the oven for 20 minutes or until it gets tender and slightly golden brown.

• Take out the roasted pumpkin chunks from the oven and let it cool down.
• Peel off the skin from the chunks and keep aside.

• Heat a dutch oven or wide non-stick cooking pan, add the carrot, onion, celery, thyme, rosemary, dried basil leaves along with water, let it cook covered for 20 minutes until the veggies turn tender.

• After 20 minutes, add the roasted pumpkin into the vegetable broth along with the other veggies.

• Let it come to a boil.
• Remove the thyme and rosemary stems from the veggie broth.
• Puree the roasted pumpkin along with the veggies in batches in a blender.
• Pour the pureed pumpkin soup back into the dutch oven or pan and simmer on low heat.
• Add the ground pepper and combine well.
• Add the heavy cream, simmer for a minute and remove from the stove.

• Serve the soup in a soup bowl.

Making Fried Mussels:

Ingredients

• Mussels, cleaned- 12 no’s
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Chilly powder- 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 2 pinches
• Salt- to taste
• Oil- enough to deep fry

Check this out: Mussel Fry

Making caramelized cobweb:

Ingredients:

• Sugar- 1 1/2 tbsp
• Water- 1/2 cup sugar
• Parchment paper greased with butter- 2 sheets

Preparation:

• Grease the parchment paper with butter and keep aside.
• Place a small non-stick pan over medium heat.
• Add the sugar and water, keep stirring until the sugar melts in the water and the syrup turns clear.

• Stop stirring, continue to cook until the syrup turns brown and has the constituency of honey.

• Place the pan into a ice-water bath to stop the cooking.
• Immediately, using a spoon drizzle the caramelized sugar syrup on to the parchment paper creating the shape of a cobweb.

• If the syrup is too watery, let it cool down to have the right consistency.
• Alternatively, if the syrup is too thick, heat the syrup for few minutes and it will loosen up.
• Let the cobweb on the parchment paper stand for a while until it sets.
• Gently, remove the caramelized cobweb from the paper, making sure not to break it.
• It may take a couple of attempts to get the cobweb shape. I know mine is not that perfect, anyway it worked.

Serving:

• Serve the roasted pumpkin soup in a soup bowl.
• Top the soup with 4 to 5 fried mussels.
• On the side you could place the caramelized cobweb on top of few button mushrooms and place a fried mussel over the cobweb, so that it looks like a bug.

Tips:

If you are a vegetarian, ignore the mussels and you have the perfect veggie soup which will refresh and soothe you.

Mussels, Mushrooms, Orange peels and Sparkling red grape juice thrown into the same pan…

Today, 12 noon is the deadline for the Royal Foodie Joust and and here I am rushing for it. The ingredients for this month are Mushroom, Orange and Wine (or non-alcoholic sparkling wine). When I read about the ingredients, I had no idea and honestly quite confused about how to combine these to make an interesting dish. If I had to make dishes with these ingredients separately, there wouldn’t be any scarcity for the recipes. I would have come up with many recipes. As usual, I stood still with my refrigerator open and looked inside with my eyes wide open and of course thinking about how to throw these into the same pot. When I saw the Mussels getting ready to come out of the freezer, I first grabbed that and the other ingredients. After that I don’t know what happened in my kitchen and here is what was ready on the platter for dinner.

The combination of Mussels, Mushrooms, orange and sparkling wine did work and this was the dish, which got finished first for dinner.

Mussel Mushroom in Sparkling Red Grape Juice:

Ingredients:

• Mussels, with the shells, cleaned thoroughly-12 no’s

• Button Mushrooms halved- 1/2 cup
• Onion, minced-1/2 onion
• Garlic minced-1tsp
• Tomato paste-2 tbsp
• Sparkling red grape juice- 1/2 cup
• Orange peel, cut wide without the white part- 3 wide slices.
• Olive oil- 1-2 tbsp
• Salt- to taste
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Parsley chopped or cilantro chopped, for garnish- 1 handful

Preparation:

• Clean the shell of the mussels with a brush or paper towel and pick only the good ones.
• Heat a wide non-stick pan, when it gets hot, add olive oil.
• Add the onions, garlic and saute until translucent.
• Add the mushrooms and saute until mushrooms are tender.

• Add salt and ground pepper and give it a stir.
• Now, add the tomato paste and combine everything well.
• Add the sparkling grape juice  and the orange peels to the veggies.
• When it starts to boil, add the cleaned mussels and close the pan with its lid.
• Let the mussels simmer for about 3 minutes.

• Transfer the mussels to a serving bowl, ladle the sauce over the mussels and garnish with Parsley or Cilantro.
• Enjoy the mussel, mushroom, sparkling red grape juice together with a hint of orange.

Tips:

• You could even use dry white wine instead of sparkling grape juice.

Is there anything more delicious than Mussel fry? I doubt it. If I ever compete in mussel eating competition, it would be better for other contestants to back off…

Not just mussels, almost all edible shellfishes are delicious and I am a die-hard fan of shellfishes. Growing up in Kerala, where fishes are the prime food, I had enjoyed almost all fishes and shellfishes that too catch of the day. When the season for mussels arrives, all you can see is mussels piled up in fish markets. I had eaten mussels until I got tired of it, but it wasn’t that easy for me to get tired of mussels or any other shellfish. I can go on and on until I am broke: P

Many delicious dishes can be made using mussels, among them mussel fry is my all time favorite. During mussel season, whenever I visited my grandparents, my grandma used to have mussel fry ready for me. She made the best mussel fry I’ve ever tasted. The speed with which the mussel fry got emptied from the platter is always faster than light. The other day, when I spoke to one of my cousins she was actually devouring mussel fry while talking to me and that kind of stirred up my craving for mussel. The very next day mussel fry was ready on the platter. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find huge fleshy mussels, I got small ones instead. Even though I prefer fleshy ones, for the time being these small ones helped me to subside my craving.

Nutritional facts about Mussels:

• Mussels are low in sodium and saturated fat.
• Mussels provide a readily absorbed source of B & C vitamins, amino acids, Omega 3 fatty acids, and vital minerals including iron, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and zinc.
• Mussel meat are rich in protein, has less fat, many more mineral nutrients and a quarter of the calories of beef.

What more do we need to include mussels blindly into our diet?

Mussel Fry:

Ingredients:

• Mussels, removed from the shell, cleaned in running water- 20

For Marination:

• Chilly powder- 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 2 pinches
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Salt- to taste

• Oil- for frying

Preparation:

• Combine the cleaned mussels with the above marinating ingredients and let stand for 15 minutes or longer.

• In a frying pan, heat the oil for frying and put the mussels into the oil, fry until golden brown color.

• Avoid frying the mussels to a crispy texture, it tastes good if it is less crispy.
• Transfer the fried mussels to a paper towel.
• I warn you, you really can’t wait till the mussel fry cools down, at least I cannot. Now what? Dig in:P

Tips:

• Adjust the spice level according to your needs.
• This would make a fancy appetizer for any parties, serve the mussel fry on the shell( which is cleaned) itself.