Aromatic Spicy Stir Fried Cockles 香辣炒鮮蚶

Friday is here again and where has the week gone to? If you are also playing hide and seek with time, this simple delicious stir fry might be what you are after.

I recently cooked for a dinner party hosted by my friend M and this is an extra dish I cooked using the hostess' recipe. A typical contemporary Malaysian dish that has ingredients sourced from different cultures and to me this is fusion food at its best.

P.S If you are unable to find cockles; pipis, clams or mussels will work equally well too.

serves 4 to 6 as part of a Malaysian or Chinese meal

you'll need;

1.5 kg of cockles, soaked in water for 30 minutes and cleaned well

4 shallots, sliced

6 cloves of garlic, sliced

3 large red chillies, sliced

2 lemon grass (white parts only), sliced finely

3 sprigs of curry leaves

5 tbs of oyster sauce

3 tbs of light soy

2 tbs of sugar

a dash of Chinese cooking wine

a dash of white pepper

Prepare the shallots, garlic, chillies and lemongrass.

Heat up a wok till smoking then saute shallots and garlic for 1 to 2 minutes with some cooking oil.

Add chillies, curry leaves and lemongrass and continue to stir fry for a minute or two.

Add cockles to the wok and mix well, in go the seasonings and stir fry on high heat for another minute. Make sure the cockles are not overcooked or they will turn out tough and rubbery.

Serve as part of a Malaysian or Chinese meal.