I have no shame in admitting that I am often very motivated by what’s on sale in the butcher/seafood case when deciding what I’m going to be cooking for dinner. Finding little Manilla clams at the store today was a nice unexpected surprise because I’m burned out on roasts, hams, turkeys, mashed potatoes, any all other holiday type foods.
Usually when I buy clams I steam them in white wine, garlic, and lemon. But because it’s winter and the weather is very Seattleesque, I decided to spice things up by steaming the clams in a red curry, coconut and ginger stock. Hello, lover.
The clams were gone within minutes of setting them on the table – I only had three of them before walking away to answer a phone call. When I returned to the table the guilty look on my husband’s face was all I needed to see to know there would be no more clams for me, even my 8 year old daughter was disapointed with her dad. All that remained in the serving bowl was a rich, flavorful, curry and ginger infused stock which I was more than happy to enjoy by the spoonful. There were no losers tonight.
If you love curry dishes and clams, this recipe is a keeper and apparently a real crowd pleaser. 🙂
Asian ingredients succh as fish sauce, curry paste, and coconut milk can be found at your local Asian grocery store or online at places like Amazon.com.
The broth itself is absolutely amazing!
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 3 teaspoons red curry paste
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup coconut milk (I like Chaokoh brand)
- 2 pounds of clams (Littlenecks or Manilla), rinsed and cleaned
- 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- optional 1 small lime cut into wedges
- Melt the butter in a medium pot over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and ginger. Cook for 2-3 minutes until garlic is fragrant but not burned.
- Add the red curry paste and the fish sauce.
- Stir the paste until it has thinned out with the butter.
- Pour the chicken broth and coconut milk into the pot. Stir the broth mixture for a couple seconds until well mixed.
- Add the clams and cooked covered for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until clams have opened. Discard any clams that are still closed.
- Add the parsley and give the pot a quick stir. Transfer clams and broth to a large serving bowl and squeeze a tablespoon of fresh lime juice over the dish.
- Serve additional lime wedges on the site.Enjoy!
I can’t stop making this recipe. It’s THAT good. We are lucky enough to be able to dig clams in front of our house, but we get tired of them – but never when made like this! We love it with loaves of good crusty bread to dip. Thanks for sharing!
Made this for our Valentine’s Dinner and it was dee-licious!!! I got a little confused because the ingredient list calls for cilantro, but the recipe says parsley… I made it with the cilantro and it was perfect for the dish. Very “Thai” inspired. Can’t believe how quickly it all went together also! Thank you for a great recipe!!! 5 Stars
I’m making this tonight for my fiance’s birthday dinner alongside a loaf of crusty bread and a thai cucumber salad with cashews, made the broth ahead of time so I just have to heat and cook when he gets here and holy cow it’s delicious already!
Thank you so much for this recipe!!! AMAZING…. Perfect mixture of all ingredients! What a nice surprise! I think it will make a wonderful chowder/soup base… SOoooOOoooo yummy!
Thank you Alice, this is an amazing dish. I made it and it was quick, easy and delicious.
I featured your recipe on my series 100 recipes from 100 blogs. It was delicious!! http://www.theforeigndomestic.com/2012/06/from-your-kitchen-to-mine-recipes-66-70.html
This looks so beautiful and yummy. I think this would also be a good way to cook mussels.
Hi DW,
Yes, the sauce is quite good isn’t?
I made this last night and it was yummy. It made a lot of sauce and I wish I had more bread to dunk in. My husband kept eating the sauce with a spoon 🙂 Thanks for this delicious recipe. It was easy and fast. I can’t wait to make it again soon.
I made this for my husband tonight. We both loved it! I poured the extra few ounces of coconut milk over my cooked jasmine rice, and let it soak in while the clams cooked. I then served the clams and broth with the coconut-jasmine rice. It was sooooo delicious. Just spicy enough without being too hot. Thanks for an other delicious recipe!
I can see how it was hard to resist those clams. Oh my word they look amazing. I wish my guys were fond of clams I would make them more often. That’s alright more for me right 😀
Hi there,
My husband would love this recipe! Thanks for sharing it. Have a beautiful day xoxo Kim
This dish looks BITCHIN’! GO ALICE!!
I enjoy eating sea food, as I live in the coast is very easy to find fresh ingredients. Clams is not very common here, but I think we can use something similar to make this delicious recipe.
Haven’t figured out what’s Pininterest but if it’s to pin or bookmark favourite recipes, this is getting pinned!!
Looks SO GOOD!!!!!!!!
I love this, Alice! I’m going to pin it to save for later…it’s too bad my husband won’t try mussels or clams but then I get to eat it all myself when I make them!
My mouth watered looking at the picture! Yummy! Can’t wait to try this.
Looks great but that’s one of the reason’s it’s not allowed to answer the phone during dinner 🙂
This looks like it came straight from the kitchen of my favorite Thai restaurant! Great job! I say if they ate all your clams, that’s the perfect reason to make another batch all for yourself 😉
OK I was really really hoping you would post this recipe after I saw your picture on instagram. LOVELY so many of my favorite ingredients! Cant wait to try this one! Cheers to you Alice and wishing you all the best in 2012! Hope our paths cross at some point.
Ohhhhh my stars, look at that. Those colors…those clams. OH, my heart hurts. Yum!
this looks delicious!! i love all the flavors in this dish & it looks so purrdy 🙂
How dare they eat all of your clams!!!! grrrrrr
Oh, this looks just perfect. I love seafood with a kick!
Magda