Recipe - Baked Mussels With Tomato And Chilli Paste

Mussels are a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals. A mussel's omega-3 content is not as high as a salmon, but it is a good source. Omega-3 fatty acids are good for the heart, the brain and our immune system. Omega-3 lowers the risk of cardio-vascular diseases such as stroke and heart attacks. Omega-3 improves our memory recall and cognitve functions.

Mussels are rich in vitamin B12, vitamin C, folate, iron, phosphorous and zinc. 

Live or fresh mussels are very sweet. The frozen mussels are not as sweet. 

Fairprice supermarket seldom sells the live mussels and I do not know why. But Cold Storage and ShopNSave still do. Mussels are cultivated in some seafood farms in Singapore.

Frozen mussels are already clean, especiallly those that come in half-shell. For the fresh ones, you need to prepare them for cooking.

To prepare fresh mussels, just rinse them and parboil them. In a pot of boiling water, add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and toss in the mussels. Within a minute or two, when the shells open, give them a swirl and take them out. This will get rid of the sea smell. Get rid of the "beard" if any. They are half-cook.

The simplest way to eat them is to to just boil them and dip them in a sauce of your choice. They are really sweet.

In this recipe, I use fresh mussels and top them up with tomato and chilli paste for the spicy kick.

Ingredients
500 grams fresh mussels, about 30 pieces

Green mussels

For the paste ingredients:
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 tomato, cut into smaller pieces
2 red chillies
Half a Knorr chicken cube

Method
Parboil the fresh mussels in boiling water and vinegar.
Remove when shells open and get rid of the beard.
Use half shell, discard the empty half shell.

Blend the paste ingredients and spoon over the half-shell mussels.
Bake in the oven at 200 degrees C for about 10 minutes.
Serve with a wedge of lemon.
    

A short 6 minute video on baked mussels with cheese and herbs.





An easy 2 minute video on baked mussels with cheese and bacon