Steamed Clams With Garlic (2007-03-20)
Inspired by the steamed scallops with rice vermicelli in Hong Kong, I decided I could do a much better job recreating the dish. KL called one afternoon after his haircut to say he saw some large clams in the fish market and asked if I wanted any. Ah, perfect for me to make that dish. So I got him to buy two. The clams he brought home were rotund and not the kind I had in mind. I already had an idea of how to cook the dish, but first we needed to open up the bivalve mollusks.
These clams are crazy clams because you can't open them! We
tried using a knife and then two spoons to pry them open, but they just
wouldn't budge. They were either really fresh or really stubborn
or really dead? At the end I had to plunge them in some boiling
water to make them open.
After fifteen seconds or so, the clams popped open. Then I
discovered that the meat inside was nothing clam-like. Instead of
the flatish
oval-shaped cream-colored clam meat I was expecting to see, these
clams' meat was plump and white with a tinge of purple around the
edge. (So many different types of shell fish, so confusing)
Anyway I proceeded to clean the meat a bit to get rid of some dirt and
black stuff (black stuff is never good in seafood), then I topped it
with rehydrated rice vermicelli, FRIED garlic (instead of raw), and
some rice wine. I think the clams were already 90% cooked when
they took that hot bath earlier, so I only steamed them for three
minutes.
When they came out of the steamer, I sprinkled chopped green onions on them and splashed some smoking hot oil over each. A quick garnish with cilantro/coriander leaves and they were done. The taste? A gazillion times better than the steamed scallops we ate in Sai Kung in that these clams were meaty and their fresh seafood flavor not overwhelmed by truckload of garlic. But I think these clam cousins' meat is a bit tough. This dish would be perfect if made with giant diver's scallops. Next time.
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