Kalumakai Fry

 

 

Yesterday I went to the wet market to pick up some fresh fish & meat. I saw fresh Mussels with one of the fish mongers & I picked a kilo from him. Mussels are very cheap, I paid just $2 for a kg. Mussels/Kallumakai is very popular in northen Kerala. During college days my Mallu fiends used to get it from their home. Aari Kadka is a very famous rice dish made with mussels in northern kerala. I used to wait for my friends to bring this while they are back to hostel from holidays. There are plenty on recipes the keralites make with Mussels. One if the simplest & commonly made are Kallumakai fry.

 

This is the first time I am cleaning the mussels & I must say that they stink so badly.. yucks....  I have cleaned the smaller ones before but they don't stink like these... At once i felt like throwing them all, coz i just couldn't control the smell. But I knew that once they are cleaned properly & washed they will taste very good. Although I like Seafood, but if it stinks I don't eat.The cleaning was a really long process but the end result so superb. I also went through a lot of cleaning videos on the net. Here are few links you can refer to  if you do not know how to clean these. click here to view the video to clean the black dirt from Mussels.

 

 

Ingredients:-

• 1 kg Mussels / Kallumakai (Once cleaned it will be 1 cup)
• 1 Tbsp Ginger garlic piece
• 1 Tspn Kashmiri red chili powder
•  1/4 Tspn pepper powder
• 1/4 Tspn Turmeric powder
• 1/2 Tspn Cumin powder
• 1 Tbsp  Lemon Juice
• Salt to taste
• 3 Tbsp Oil for frying
• Handful of curry leaves

Method:

1. Wash the mussels well under running water. If there are any opened shells discard it as they are spoilt.
2. In a heavy bottom pan add water about 3/4th of pan & cook the mussels with shell for about 10 mins in this water or until all shells are opened.
3. Drain off the water & remove meat from the shells, set aside.
4. Now there is a black part in the mussel meat that needs to be removed after its been boiled.
5. Once you remove the black part, soak the mussels in turmeric water for 10 minutes.
6. In a mixing bowl, add all the above ingredients except oil & curry leaves.
7. Now heat the pan with oil & add this mussel mixture & cook it for about 3 to 5 mins. Finally garnish them with curry leaves.