Clam Curry Soup| Recipe
A Thai red curry clams soup recipe served with udon noodle
One of my favorite Thai dishes are the curries. There are a varieties of Thai curries such as: red, yellow, green, massaman, and panang. The three common ones, in my opinion, are the red, green, and yellow curries. Each types of curries has their own unique flavors, but their broth richness and fragrances come from the coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, and lemongrass.
Here is my take on the Thai red curry. This recipe was inspired by the Winters Buckhorn Steakhouse’s Steamer Clams appetizer.
Here is the link to the printable recipe
What do I need? (~ 2 serving)
- 1 tbsp of coconut oil
- 2–3 tbsp of red curry paste
- 2 tbsp of palm sugar
- 1 can of coconut milk
- 2 lbs of clams
- ½ lbs of cherry tomatoes
- 1 handful of Thai basil or sweet basil
- 1 onion
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 tbsp -1 ½ tbsp of fish sauce
- 2 pkg of fresh udon noodle (can be substitute w/ ramen noodle or cooked white rice)
Optional Garnishes:
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- 2–4 fresh Thai chilies
How to?
Prepared all the vegetables ingredients. Cut the cherry tomatoes into halves. Slice bell pepper and onion into thinly slices. Clean and remove all the basil leaves from the stem. Discard the basil stem.
Scrub the clams with a dishwashing sponge to remove any dirt. Soak the clams in cold water for 20 minutes. This step helps remove the sand in the clams. After 20 minutes, discard the water, rinse and drain the clams.
Cook udon noodles according to package. Drain and rinse immediately with cold water to stop the cooking and remove excess starch. Set it aside.
In a medium soup pot, add in 1 tbsp of coconut oil and turn stove to medium. Once the coconut oil melted, add in the red curry paste and cook until fragrance.
Add in the palm sugar and coconut milk. Bring the broth to a boil and stir to make sure the palm sugar dissolved.
Add in the tomatoes, bell pepper, and onion. Bring the pot back to a boil.
Add in the clean clams and fill the pot with just enough water to cover the clams.
Cook the clams for 8 minutes with lid on. After 8 minutes, check to make sure all the clams are opened. Once clams are opened, that means they are cooked.
Once boil, taste the broth. Season the broth with fish sauce and turn off the heat. Add in basil leaves. Stir to make sure everything is well mixed.
Add cooked udon noodle into a serving bowl. Ladle the clam soup over with just the amount of soup to cover the ¾ of the udon noodles. Serve with lime wedges and some Thai chili.
Enjoy!
Tips and Tricks (Advices :P)
What is palm sugar?
Palm sugar is sugar made from the sap of a sugar palm tree. It has a rich and nutty flavor, which is the reason why it is used in most Asian sweet dishes. Palm sugar is not the same as coconut sugar. Coconut sugar comes from the bud of coconut tree flowers. The palm sugars sold at most Asian stores has a similar taste to the coconut sugar. This is probably because the palm sugar is made from the sap of a coconut palm tree.
Why the coconut oil instead of another type of oil?
Traditionally, fresh coconut milk is reduced down until the coconut oil is extracted to give the curry broth that nice shininess. Unfortunately, this technique doesn’t work with can coconut milk. To recreated that effect I used coconut oil. The coconut oil gives the broth the shininess and add an extra depth of coconut richness flavor.
Where can I get red curry paste?
Red curry paste can be found at any asian stores as well as most Americans’ groceries. One of my favorite brand of red curry paste is Mae Ploy. If you can find this brand, goes with this brand. Otherwise, for other brands of red curry paste, adjust the seasoning of the broth. Some brands might be saltier than others. For those who can’t find red curry paste at all, here is a recipe on how to make it from scratch.
Not a fan of udon noodles?
For those who is not a fan of udon noodles or can’t find it, you can definitely serve this with cooked white rice or substitute it with ramen. Another option is to serve this clam curry soup with slices of toasted sourdough.
Education Time
Thai curry is an India, Malaysian, and Portuguese inspired dish. Indian bought over spicy spices such as cumin, cardamom, and coriander as well as their curry dishes. Malaysian bought over the use of coconuts and the satay seasoning spices; and the Portuguese missionaries bought over the chilies.
Originally Thai curry are made using pure spices, which overpower the fresh herbs such as lemongrass and galangal fragrance and flavor. Eventually, the usage of pure spices in curry was reduced and replaced with the fresh herbs. This led to the Thai curries flavor today.
There are many different type of Thai curries: red, green, yellow, massaman, and panang. Each curries has their own unique flavor, but are made with using similar fresh herbs and coconut milk as the soup base. Red and green curries are the two most popular Thai curries. The main ingredient in red curry is matured red chilli, so it is not as hot as green curry, which is made of young green chili. Yellow curry is made of roasted spices such as turmeric, hint the bright yellow color. Massaman curry is the sweetest curry and its main ingredients is tamarind, hint the tangy flavor. This curry is perfect for those who can’t eat spicy food. Panang curry uses the similar ingredients as red curry, but the flavor tends to be sweeter.
Fun Facts 😮
- A proper thai meal include soup, curry dish, and some sort of fish and vegetables dishes, hitting all sort of taste buds flavors: salty, sweet, sour, and spicy.
- Thai curries used to be way more spicier than modern day curries.
- Thai curries is known as “kaeng” which means a watery dish to be eaten with rice. “Kari” means curry in Thai and is referring to Indian-style curry influenced dishes.
- Not all region of Thai curries are made with coconut milk. For example the curries kaeng som and kaeng pa do not have coconut milk.
