Name: Sambal mussels
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: Serves 6 as a starter
Cuisine: Indonesian
Ingredients: 2 lemongrass stalks; 4 red thai chillies (seeds removed if you don't like it too hot), roughly chopped; 1 long shallot, peeled and roughly chopped; 10g ginger, peeled and chopped; 2 garlic cloves; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 1 tbsp palm sugar or soft light brown sugar; 1 lime, zested and juiced; 450g mussels, cleaned and debearded; small handful of finely chopped coriander; lime wedges

Mussels in a bowl coated in sambal sauce with a spoon, served next to a ramekin of lime wedges

2 lemongrass stalks
4 red thai chillies
(seeds removed if you don't like it too hot), roughly chopped
1 long shallot
peeled and roughly chopped
10g ginger
peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp palm sugar or soft light brown sugar
1 lime
zested and juiced
450g mussels
cleaned and debearded

To serve

small handful of finely chopped coriander
lime wedges

Method

step 1
Remove the tough outer leaves of the lemongrass stalks, then slice off 3cm from the bottom and 2cm from the top, and discard. This should leave about 9cm of lemongrass to very finely chop. Put in a mini food processor along with the chillies, shallot, ginger and garlic, plus 2 tbsp of water and a little seasoning. Blitz until it forms a paste.
step 2
Put the oil in a large, deep, lidded frying pan over a medium heat. Once hot, cook the paste for 2-3 mins or until fragrant. Add the fish sauce and sugar, and cook for a further 2-3 mins or until the sugar has melted.
step 3
Add the lime juice and mussels, stir through, then cover, reduce the heat to very low and cook for 5 mins until the mussels are fully opened – discard any that haven’t. Stir through the lime zest and serve immediately, garnished with the coriander and lime wedges to squeeze over.