This is a great lunch meal. The only thing about this dish is that it uses a lot of oil, and there is no way around it. Well, once in a while it is not bad.
 |
3/4 cup water
vegetable oil
1/2 cup tapioca flour
sriracha sauce
salt
1 cup mussels
ground pepper
1/4 cup all purpose flour
5-7 sprigs cilantro
2 cups bean sprouts
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg Optional
To remove fresh mussels from shell, I dump the mussels in boiling water and let it boil for a minute or until the shell is open. The draw back from this is that sometimes your mussels shrink to nothing. If you can get fresh frozen without a shell, they are my first choice. Often, I use fresh oysters that come in a jar. If you choose mussels, pull the little clump of hair out. It doesn't taste good and can cause stomach problem.
Cut cilantro into small pieces, 1 cm. Save some whole leaves for a garnish.
Mix the flours, water and baking powder and a dash of salt. The mixture should be very thin for maximum crispiness. Heat a flat bottom pan, I use my Griswold skillet, to medium to high heat. Add about 3 tablespoons of oil to the hot pan. Spoon the batter in the oil. Sprinkle mussels on top. You might have to add oil here and there. Flip the pieces. If you have enough room on your pan, add the rest of the batter and mussels. Push the cooked batter aside, add an egg and scramble it or mix it with the rest of the mussels. The final result should be light brown with some crispy pieces. Remove from the pan and put onto two plates.
Use the same pan with high heat to quickly cook the bean sprouts. If the pan is quite oily, there is no need to add oil otherwise add a teaspoon of oil. Drop in the bean sprouts. Stir quickly. Add a pinch of salt and remove the sprouts from the pan. Quickly stir fried bean sprout will retain their crispiness and taste better than soggy bean sprouts. Set the bean sprouts next to the mussles on the plates.
Sprinkle with pepper, garnish with cilantro and server hot with Siracha sauce.
Garnish with cilantro, sprinkle black pepper on top and serve hot with Siracha Sauce.
Learn more about this and other similarly prepared Pan Fry or Deep Fry Dishes (Tod) recipes
