Kam heong mussels

Abby Lee mussels final
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These kam heong mussels from Abby Lee are topped with crunchy and savoury homemade prawn floss. This dish comes together very quickly, and the savoury, peppery soy-based sauce can also be used on other seafood like crab or clams.

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First published in 2023

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Rempah (paste)

  • 85g of banana shallot
  • 18g of garlic cloves
  • 10g of ginger
  • 3 red bird's eye chillies , or fewer depending on your spice tolerance
  • 5g of curry powder, ideally Malaysian curry powder

Sauce

  • 18g of oyster sauce
  • 10g of Thai soybean paste
  • 3g of light soy sauce
  • 2g of dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Sarawak black pepper, toasted and freshly ground

Prawn floss

  • 20g of dried shrimp, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes
  • 10g of vegetable oil

Finishing

Method

1

Begin by making the prawn floss. Drain the dried shrimp, reserving the water. Blend the prawns until they are crumbly. Add the prawns to a pan with the oil, and cook over low heat, stirring regularly, until lightly caramelised and dry. Remove from the pan and drain off the excess oil on kitchen paper

  • 20g of dried shrimp, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes
  • 10g of vegetable oil
2

Make the sauce by mixing all the ingredients together

  • 18g of oyster sauce
  • 10g of Thai soybean paste
  • 3g of light soy sauce
  • 2g of dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Sarawak black pepper, toasted and freshly ground
3

To make the rempah, first roughly chop all the ingredients except the curry powder. Add everything to a blender or food processor, pulse until coarsley chopped. Remove from the machine and mix in the curry powder

  • 85g of banana shallot
  • 18g of garlic cloves
  • 10g of ginger
  • 3 red bird's eye chillies , or less depending on your spice tolerance
  • 5g of curry powder, ideally Malaysian curry powder
4

Next, heat a saucepan or ideally a wok over medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil. Throw in curry leaves and let them pop for a few seconds. Stir in the rempah until very fragrant. Get a lid ready, then throw in the mussels, most of the sauce and reserved shrimp water. Cover and shake the pan. Leave to cook, covered, until the mussels to open up. It will take a few minutes. Throw away any that mussels have not opened

5

Take the lid off. At this point the sauce may be a tiny bit runny. If so, let it reduce and thicken slightly for a few minutes, until it's thick enough to coat each mussel with the sauce and nicely glossy

6

Serve the kam heong mussels on a plate and sprinkle over a generous amount of prawn floss and the remaining sauce

Abby Lee began her career predominantly cooking Italian food but after moving back to Malaysia during the coronavirus pandemic, began to learn more about the food she grew up eating and decided to pivot towards Malaysian cookery. She has since made a name for herself at her London restaurant Mambow, where her bold modern Malaysian dishes have gone down a storm.

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