I’ve been in the mood for some seafood lately but wanted to try something new. Clams and curries aren’t new foods for me, but I’ve never actually cooked clams at home. I’ve made mussels, so I’m expecting steamed clams to be a similar process. Curry is a pretty regular menu item at my house, but it’s also a hugely diverse category. Curried clams are definitely new, so I’m excited to give this Asian-inspired recipe a try.
An Asian style steamed clam recipe featuring red curry, coconut milk, garlic, and ginger. Very flavorful and the right amount of spice.
The Ingredients
All of the ingredients of this steamed clams recipe were easy to find. The clams, of course, were the most expensive item at $14.21 for 2 pounds. That was for 29 littleneck clams at $0.49 each. They were not sold by the pound, but the guy at the seafood counter was nice enough to weigh them for me.
The fish sauce and red curry paste might be tough to find if your local grocery store doesn’t have a well-stocked international foods aisle. I like Thai Kitchen brand (I’ve used it for years), and you can order their red curry paste and fish sauce on Amazon. I bought both locally because it was more convenient and a little cheaper than ordering it.
The Process
I didn’t have any trouble following the instructions for this recipe, but it did take me nearly twice as long as the 10-minute total time listed. Instead, it took me 6 minutes to prep and 12 minutes to cook, for a total time of 18 minutes. It looks like the discrepancy is with the cook time listed (5 minutes) versus what is called for in the directions (7-10 minutes). Still, 18 minutes to make a meal isn’t bad.
One question I had was what type of pot to use for this recipe. I didn’t want anything too deep so the clams would steam. I settled on a cast-iron Dutch oven that was a little over 5 quarts. The clams weren’t totally submerged, and the high sides allowed me to stir them without spilling.
I served my steamed clams as a main course with jasmine rice since this recipe made me think of Thai food. I can’t recall if it was in the original blog post or the comments, but serving crusty bread was mentioned as a side, and that sounds like it would be even better than rice.
