A lovely, simple and delicious hot Szechuan style clam stir fry that can be finished in 15 minutes.
Clams are always good comforting food with a cup of beer in summer night. This clam stir fry will be your new favorite seafood recipe! It’s packed with fresh clams, a variety of aromatics, and the lovely soul sauce of Sichuan cuisine. It is a real fabulous dish.
How to treat clams before cooking
Clams are a delicious seafood item that can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, either in stir fry, steamed dishes or soups. However, if they are not properly prepared, clams can end up being quite gritty due to the sand that they contain. To avoid this, it is important to prepare clams before cooking them. By follow the steps below, you can ensure that your clams are free of sand and ready to enjoy.
- The first step is to soak the clams in salty and oily water. Add clam in a large pot, add water to cover, and add around 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of oil. Soak for at least 1 hour. This will help to filter out any grit and sand clinging to the shell.
- Next, rinse the clams several times with fresh water to remove any residual salt and attached grits.
- Finally, place the clams in a colander and allow them to drain for a few minutes before cooking.
Steam the clams
Add the clams into a pan or wok. Then add around 2 tablespoons of Shaoxing wine. Cover the lid the let it cook for 3-5 minutes until the shells are open. Drain to prepare for the stir frying.
Note
There is another way of prepare the clams by blanching in water. Add clam in a pot with cold water, add Shaoxing wine and heat until the water just starts boils. Transfer out and drain.
Fry it up
Drain the clams from the previous step. Cut all the ingredients, peppers, scallion, ginger and garlic. You may find that in most case I chop the aromatics. But since we have very lovely sauce will be used in the recipe, large pieces are good.
Use low fire (low fire, don’t get your doubanjiang burnt) to fry the doubanjiang for 15 seconds until the oil turns red. Add aromatics and half of the scallion sections in. Quick fry for 10 seconds until aromatic.
Place the clams in, add salt and light soy sauce around the wedges. Give it a quick stir fry. Place the scallion sections. Mix well and serve hot!
Ingredients
- 300 g clams
- 2 tbsp. cooking wine
Soaking
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. vegetable cooking oil
Stir frying
- 2 tbsp. cooking oil
- 1 tbsp. doubanjiang , can be replaced by other chili paste or Laoganma chili sauce
- 1 inch root ginger , sliced
- 3 Tabasco chili peppers or Thai chili peppers , cut into circles
- 2 cloves garlic , chopped
- 1 small bunch of spring onion , chop into sections
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tbsp. light soy sauce
Instructions
Prepare the clam before cooking
- Add clam in a large pot, add water to cover, and add around 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of oil. Soak for at least 1 hour.
- Rinse the clams several times with fresh water to remove any residual salt and attached grits and then drain.
Steam the clams
- Add the clams into a pan or wok. Then add around 2 tablespoons of Shaoxing wine. Cover the lid the let it cook for 3-5 minutes until all the shells are opened.
Fire it up
- Drain the clams from the previous step. Cut all the ingredients, peppers, scallion, ginger and garlic. You may find that in most case I chop the aromatics. But since we have very lovely sauce will be used in the recipe, large pieces are good.
- Use low fire (low fire, don't get your doubanjiang burnt) to fry the doubanjiang for 15 seconds until the oil turns red. Add aromatics and half of the scallion sections in. Quick fry for 10 seconds until aromatic.
- Place the clams in, add salt and light soy sauce around the wedges. Give it a quick stir fry. Place the scallion sections. Mix well and serve hot!
This looks amazing!!
Thanks Anne.
yum.. this looks delicious!
Also super easy and cheap.
Another way to make the clams spit sand is add a little corn meal to salt water.
Thanks Chasl for the shared tip. I will definitely use it when I cook clam next time.