Arikadukka – Stuffed mussels

Back home, my mom prepares arikadukka whenever we get big mussels. The mussels stuffed with the rice flour mix and then fried in coconut oil… Have them hot with some tomato ketchup….. slurrrrpppppp…..

Last day, when we went for grocery shopping, we came across a bunch fresh mussels. AJ couldn’t resist himself from getting it. It was so small and preparing arikadukka out of it was supposed to be difficult. Or in my mom’s words, it is not worth the effort. But I decided to try it out just because of my craving...  Believe me, it was not that difficult and was definitely worth the effort. The bigger the mussels, the better.. But the small ones are equally delicious and yummy..

Ingredients:

             Mussels/Kadukka                                 --   30 – 45 small ones
            Rice flour                                                  --   1/2 cup  + 1 tbsp (if required for batter while frying)
           Water                                                         --   a little less than 1/2 cup
           Shredded Coconut                                --   1/4 cup
           Shallots                                                     --   2
           Green Chillies                                          --   3-4
           Fennel Seeds / Perumjeerakam      --   1 tsp
           Curry leaves                                            --   1 spring
           Chilly Powder                                         --   1 tsp
           Turmeric Powder                                  --   1/4 tsp
           Salt                                                               --   to taste

Preparation of Arikadukka:

Clean the shell of the mussels and split open with a blunt knife without breaking the shell. Remove any hairy kind of  material from it.

 

Take 2-3 mussels out of the shell and keep aside.

 

Grind the shallots, green chillies, fennel seeds, curry leaves and the shelled mussels along with a pinch of salt. Add coconut to the ground mixture and crush them. Just pulse in your mixer.

    

 

Boil the water and add the rice flour into it and keep stirring as you add the flour. Switch off the flame and let it cool a bit. Once you are able to touch it with your hands, knead into a smooth dough . Add the ground coconut mixture into the dough and mix well.

 

Check for salt and add if required, but remember that the mussels are a bit salty. Instead of using rice flour, you can prepare the dough using raw rice. Soak half a cup of raw rice for a couple of hours and then grind into a fine paste adding minimum amount of water.

 

Fill the flour mixture in each of the mussels, close them and tie it tight with a thread. Tying with the thread helps to keep the stuffing inside, without letting it move out when cooked. You can fill in more than what I have done and let the mussels be half open and then tie it. I reduced the filling in each as we concentrate more on the mussels than the stuffing, also the mussels were very small.

    

          Steam the mussels in a covered vessel until cooked (It took around 15 minutes for me.) 

          Remove the mussels from the shell and keep them aside.

     

Mix the chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt and a tbsp of the left over flour mixture(if you have any) , or 1 tbsp of rice flour with water and make a thin paste.

   

Dip the mussels in the batter and deep fry in oil. Drain on to a kitchen towel and serve hot.

 

Submitting this to Akheela's  Food palette series Orange