Baby clams with rice

Clams work just as perfectly with rice as they do pasta and noodles. In fact, arguably better - you can scoop up all the flavours in one swoop of a shell!

Baby clams with rice Credit: One World Kitchen

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

Clams

• 1 kg fresh baby clams 
• 2 tbsp (40 ml) vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp minced shallot
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 stalks lemongrass, white core thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp (20 ml) fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2½ tsp paprika
• 1 tsp black pepper

Broth

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 cups reserved liquid from cooking clams, strained of sediment (use water to top up to 2 cups, or 500 ml)
• 1 ½ tbsp (30 ml) fermented shrimp paste

Garnish

• ½ cup crushed, roasted peanuts
• ½ cup fried, diced shallots
• 1 green apple, julienned
• 2 sesame rice crackers with black sesame seeds
• 1 large bunch coriander
• 1 large bunch Vietnamese (or regular) mint
• Fried pork rinds, broken into pieces (optional)

To serve

• Cooked rice, for serving

Soaking time: 20 mins

Instructions

1. Soak clams in cool, fresh water for 20 minutes. 
 
2. Pull clams out of water and scrub clams clean of any grit or particles.
 
3. Heat vegetable oil over medium heat in wok or frying pan. Add shallots, garlic and lemongrass and stir-fry until golden. Add clams, fish sauce sugar, paprika and black pepper and stir for a few minutes. Put lid on pan and cook until clams start to open.
 
4. Remove from heat and reserve clams into a bowl. 
 
5. Drain liquid from pan into a separate bowl, using a fine-mesh sieve or a colander line with cheese cloth to remove any sediment.
 
6. Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan over high medium-high heat. 
 
7. Add garlic and stir fry until golden. Add clam liquid and fermented shrimp paste into saucepan and stir well. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a gentle simmer. 
 
8. In the meantime, remove meat from clam shells and place in separate bowl. Discard shells.
 
9. Prepare dishes for serving. Spoon a generous portion of rice into each serving bowl. Scoop a quarter of the clams on top of the rice, on one side of the bowl. 
 
10. Ladle some of the simmering clam broth over the clams and rice. 
 
11. Arrange garnishes in small separate piles on the rice.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.