Fergus Coyle’s Mussel Masala with coconut, ginger and green chillies

By Fergus Coyle, Rick Stein Fistral.

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Ingredients

  • 30ml coconut
  • 1tsp black mustard seeds blitzed in a food processor
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 30g/6cm ginger, finely grated
  • 20g/4 cloves garlic, finely crushed
  • 2 green chillies, seeds removed, thinly sliced
  • Handful of fresh curry leaves
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp Garam Masala
  • 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
  • 1/2 tsp tumeric
  • 1 tsp salt

For the Garam Masala

  • 1 tbsp black peppercorns
  • 2 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 2 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 2 tsp cardamom seeds (from 30-40 green pods)
  • 4 tsp whole cloves
  • 7cm piece of cinnamon stick
  • 1 whole nutmeg

Method

  1. Place the mussels into a large saucepan, cover with a lid and cook over a high heat, shaking the pan every now and again until all the mussels have opened and are cooked; it takes 3-4 minutes.

  2. Heat the coconut oil in a large sturdy pan or karahi over a medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and fry for 30 seconds until they start to pop, then stir in the coconut and fry for a further 5 minutes.

  3. Add the mussels and their cooking liquor to the pan, followed by the fennel seeds, black pepper, garam masala, chilli powder, tumeric and salt. Cook for a further 1-2 minutes, then serve.

  4. For the Garam Masala: Roast all the spices apart from the nutmeg in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for a couple of minutes until toasted and aromatic. Cool. Grate the nutmeg and add to a spice grinder along with whole spices (you might want to break up the cinnamon stick) and grind everythinhg to a fine powder. Store in a sealed container out of the sunlight; it will keep its mosr aromatic condition for a month.