Neeli thalele/Crispy fried mussels

 

“Soronto“-Means carving in konkani and that is what I feel when I see mussels.From where I come,seafood is in abundance and people eat it for almost all meals of the day,also having had the influence of 2 types of cooking in our day to day food,there was no dearth for a new taste every day.

Mussels,is a sweet shell fish and I have grown up eating all sorts of dishes made out of it,inclusive of Mussels biryani,dry,fry,curry,stuffed,pickle .Now ,mussels is one of the tricky seafoods as it can spoil very quickly and can have adverse effect on stomach if not eaten properly.I would love to write a whole article on my blog one of these days on the best way to clean ,cook and eat mussels ,as I have heard from my dear Dad.

Crispy fried mussels ,I have shown in the photo above,is of mussels that  have NOT been precooked,and have been removed raw by prying open the mussels and scooping out the mussel flesh from its shell.This is an art in itself and comes with practice,but since this does not involve cooking with shell,the food is clean and not loose the essence of the seafood either.

1. 10 mussels
2. 1/2 tsp chilly powder-hot
3. 1/2 tsp paprila powder
4. 1/4 tsp astefotida
5. salt to taste
6. Rice powder for frying
7. oil

Method:

1. Marinate mussels in hot chillypowder,paprika power,salt and astefotida.
2. Keep for 30mts,any fleshy  mussel once removed from its shell starts loosing its flesh in the form of water,thus making the marinate watery.Hence make sure there is almost close to no water before adding the ingredients.
3. Remove marinated mussels one by one and spread on a bed a rice powder.
4. gently move ur fingers on the mussels so as to spread it to ts original shape(like 2 ears hinged in the center).
5. turn the mussels on its other side and coat rice powder evenly on both sides.Do this to each mussel.
6. In a wok full of hot oil,deep fry the mussels for nearly 3-4mts depending on the size of the mussel
7. Drain and serve hot.