Spicy Mussels in a Ginger Coconut broth

Have you even cooked a meal where you wanted to ensure that all remnants of your dish needed to make it out of the house by garbage day to avoid having it sit in your compost bin for a week? Have you managed to pull something off in less than half an hour that you concocted for the first time and that tasted delicious? Have you recreated something you ate at a restaurant and liked your version better? Yes, dear friends, it was all of the above that leads me to this post.I bought a bag of mussels on Friday, got busy over the weekend and realized that I had no real plans for our lunch on Monday. Today, Tuesday being garbage day, meant that if the mussels were made mid week, I'd have the shells sitting around for a few days.So looking at the ingredients on hand, I thought I'd try to recreate mussels we'd eaten at a restaurant some years ago. That was in a thick coconut milk broth that was perfect for soaking up the warm bread that came with the dish. Now, I wanted something lighter with an Asian influence, so I  put a few ingredients together and came up with this recipe. I use the entire gamut of coconut ingredients from oil, to milk, cream and desiccated. What I have in addition is a Nestlé brand Maggi Coconut Milk powder because it allows me to create the consistency of the coconut milk I require. Also, I like this is because unlike a can that you have to use all at once, this can be used as needed thereby ensuring you always have some on hand when needed.
There were three star players in this recipe, they are (not in any order of importance)



These are staples in my kitchen and the Tom Yom Paste is really versatile, I've used it as a marinade for chicken but that's a recipe for another time. On our facebook page I said 5 - 7 ingredients, here are three the others of course are the mussels, chili powder, fresh ginger and coriander leaves. Here is the recipe.

Skill Level: Easy

Serves: 2 - 4

INGREDIENTS:

• one bag of mussels (wt. 700 g)
• 2 Tbsp coconut milk powder added to 2 cups of water
• 2 Tbsp chicken broth added to 2 cups of water
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 inch piece of ginger thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp Tom Yom paste added to 1 cup of water
• 4 Tbsp chopped coriander leaves

METHOD:

1. Scrub, wash and debeard the mussels and set aside. Discard any mussels that are cracked or bruised

2. In a large stock pot add the coconut milk, chicken broth and ginger

3. Allow it to come to a boil and add Tom Yom paste and cayenne. Stir well and cook for an additional 2 minutes

4. Add the mussels to the pot, cover and allow it to cook for 7 - 8 minutes

5. Take it off the heat, spoon the broth into bowls, garnish with cilantro and add the mussels. Discard the ginger if you like, I enjoyed chewing it for extra flavour

6. There is no salt in this recipe as both the chicken broth and the Tom yom paste have added salt

7. Left overs today was good too (mussels are sitting in the bottom of the bowl)