Chilli Mussels

My Chilli Muscles (hehe)!

Cooking is not an exact science, the best way to see if it tastes good is to TASTE IT.

Ingredients

• 5 Cloves of Garlic
• Bunch of Coriander
• 2 Shallots 
• 1-2 Onions (I like the taste of cooked soft onions)
• 3-4 Tomatoes
• 1 can of tomato paste (250-300g s I think)
• Lemon
• 1-5 Chilli (depending on your hotness, I am obviously very hot :-) )
• 350 - 500ml Soup Stock
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 to 1.2 Kg Mussels

Cooking utensils
A large wok with a cover or a deep pan with a cover or a pot with a cover
Wooden spoon

Preperation (10-20 minutes)

• Chop the garlic to small pieces
• Slice the Shallots and onions
• Chop the tomatoes roughly
• Chop the stem of the coriander to small pieces (Keep the leaves for the garnish) 
• Chop the chilli into small pieces (Always chop the chilli last)
• Wash and de-beard the Mussels (generally comes de-bearded and cleaned but check anyway) - if you have to de-beard the mussels start on the sauce first.
• To de-beard the mussels just pull the beard along the opening until it comes off.

Making the sauce (Actual working on the sauce is about 10 minutes and the waiting should be about 25 minutes - 45 minutes depending how much you want to reduce)

• Add some oil (2-3 tablespoon) to a pot on high heat
• Put in the chilli, garlic, shallots and onions into the hot pot
• When the fragrance is released (when you can smell the garlic, shallots, onions and chilli) allow it to cook for another 2-3 minutes stir the mixture so it does not burn
• Add some salt 2 - 3 pinches and pepper to the mixture and stir (don't add too much now you can always add later)
• Pour in the soup stock into the mixture 
• Add in the coriander stems now
• Allow the soup to heat up
• When the soup starts to boil, carefully add in the chopped tomatoes and the can of tomato paste
• Reduce the heat to low and make sure the mixture is stirred often
• Cover when on low heat
• The sauce should be a little bit runny so it should not be too thick if it is too thick add some soup stock, if it is too runny (I like it with a bit of broth) you can reduce further on higher fire.

Combining the Mussels with the sauce (7-10 minutes)

• Slowly add in the mussels (careful not to splash it on yourself) I normally turn it up to medium flame so I get a little bit of bubbles on the surface of the sauce/broth
• The more sauce/broth you have the better 
• Close the cover and stir on occasion
• Make sure all the mussels have opened this might take about 7-10 minutes in the pot
• Do not eat unopened mussels

Serving

• Put the yummy mussels in a deep bowl and mix in the coriander leaves that we had earlier and squeeze half the lemon on the top
• Pan fry some sour dough bread covered in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper
• Dip bread and eat smile broadly feel happy wash it down with a lemon lime and bitters (next recipe)

 This will serve 2 Roy :-/ which would mean 3-4 normal humans.

Questions and answers:

1) What if it doesn't taste good? Come to my house I will do it for you or pay me to come to your house to do it for you (I am kidding don't call me I won't know why it won't taste good).  Alternatively keep trying until you get it right then call me over to eat it.
2) What taste are we looking for? Firstly if you are hot like me, the chilli should stand out, then the coriander, onions and garlic would be the next taste bud stop.  The mussels are there however flavour-wise the mussels should be incorporated into the sauce/broth.
3) Mussels are not opening! well cook'em longer turn up the fire or go out and buy fresh ones.