Ari Kadukka- Stuffed Mussels

Kallummakkaaya Nirachathu/Ari Kadukka- Stuffed Mussels

Ingredients:

medium size fresh mussels with shell

For the dough:

3 cups Puttu Podi (Coarsely ground and roasted rice powder)

2 medium size onions chopped (200 g)

2 cups grated coconut

1 ½ Tablespoons fennel seeds

2 tsp – 3 tsp salt (NB:Mussels are really salty, you may need to reduce the amount of salt considerably here depending on your taste.)

3 ½ - 4 1/2 cups boiling water (NB:Just enough water to make a soft and smooth dough. The amount of water needed may be less or more depending on the rice powder and how well the rice is roasted).

For marinating: (This quantity of spices are for frying around 15 of them)

1 tablespoon Kashmiri Chilli powder.

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Couple of pinches of salt

3-4 tablespoons of water

Preparations:

1 Grind coconut well, without adding water. Add fennel seeds, onion and grind again to get a coarse paste.

2. In a large bowl, add puttu podi and salt. Mix well. To this, add ground coconut mixture. Slowly add boiling water and mix using a large spoon until the mixture comes together. Knead it to a smooth dough, once it is warm enough to handle with bare hand. Dough shouldn’t be too soft and sticky or too hard and breaking apart. You can add more or less water as necessary. Cover and keep it aside while you prepare the mussels.

3. Clean the outer part of the mussels by scrubbing away all the dirt, if any. Discard the already opened mussels and use only the ones that are closed tight.

4. Using a blunt knife, slowly slide in the knife through the slits and open them slowly without breaking the shells apart. (I was told that leaving them in the freezer for about half an hour or so makes it easier to force open the shells). Once the shell is open, pull out the hairy substance from the flesh. Wash the opened mussels under slow running tap water, rubbing its flesh gently to clean any further dirt.

5. Make balls of the rice dough (You can divide teh dough depending on teh amount of mussels you have), wide open the shells without cracking them and stuff the dough into the shells. Take off any excess dough and shape them neatly.

6. Fill all the shells in the same manner.

7. Steam cook these stuffed mussels for about 25-30 minutes. You can stack these on top of each other and you will need to steam them in in 2-3 batches altogether. They will be slightly sticky when hot, but gets firmer as it cools down .( At this point, once it is completely cooled, you can store them in Ziploc bags and freeze them for later use. (See the tip in the notes). )

9. Slowly break open the shell and take out the cooked stuffing taking care not to break or part the mussel from the dough. It is usual that the mussel sticking to the shell, you can take them off using a sharp knife in case need be.

10. Add oil about 1 ½ - 2 inch high in a kadai/frying pan and set it on medium heat. Mix chilli powder, turmeric powder and a tad bit of salt along with water to make a thin paste. Dip the scooped out dough into this solution and slide into the hot oil. You may add as many your kadai/pan take. Fry on all sides until it takes golden colour. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with an evening tea.