Tisryache Sukke / Clam Coconut Curry

 
 
Having belonged to a Konkani family, i was raised on a seafood diet pretty much till I hit 25. We lived close a port which supplied the freshest catch of the day. Every day there would be a new variation of fish or shellfish like shrimps, clams, mussels, crabs, lobsters.
We ate seafood till we could eat no more.  Those days I would look forward to our special celebrations at restaurants where I could finally gorge on some meat.
Post marriage, having moved out of the country I got to eat as much meat as I wanted. But I really began to crave for seafood. No matter which part of the world I travelled, I could never recreate those familiar taste. Years rolled by without even tasting clams or tisrya as we called it back home. My husband's dislike for shellfish made it harder for me to even attempt it at home. Luckily my daughter was born with some of my genes and loves seafood in every form. For us, I  bought mussels and cooked in Italian style. But I always had a clam vacuum within me.
Recently when my parents were visiting us, I shared my woes. Mom very graciously and lovingly agreed to cook clams in Konkani style called tisryache sukke. This is dry preparation of clams cooked in coconut curry. I used BC clams for this recipe. With great content and a full tummy I am posting this recipe for you. The picture may not be great as it is clicked with the leftovers. Sorry about that ..lol!

Ingredients:
15-20 fresh clams
1/2 cup coconut
3-4 cloves
3-4 peppercorn
3 cloves garlic
11/2 medium chopped onion
1/2 tsp turmeric pdr
1 tbsp. Sunday Masala
1 large potato chopped into big chunks
2-3 Kokums

Directions:
Clean the clams well.
In a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp. of oil. Sauté the 1 chopped onion till soft. Add the clams, potatoes and little water and steam till they open up and the flesh changes color.
In another small pan, heat 1 tsp of oil. Sauté the cloves, peppercorns, garlic, coconut till it changes color. Add turmeric and Sunday masala and keep aside to cool.
Grind this mixture with little water to form a paste.
Add this paste to the cooked clams and simmer the curry for 10 mins.
Add the Kokum to flavor the curry and take off the heat.
Serve hot with chapattis or rice.

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