A bright coconut curry seafood stew with the added comforts of a hearty new england clam chowder.
I plan our meals around what’s on sale at the supermarket this week, read the fliers and plot things out. This week- rockfish, asparagus (I try to buy local but right around now I reach maximum tolerance for kale), bacon. Then there was an in store special on clams and I knew I had to have some seafood stew. I could have eliminated the potatoes and bacon and made a quicker lighter dish but it snowed yesterday and after a few bowls of overly thickened clam chowder out at the beach I was craving something in the middle. This was that.
Coconut Curry Seafood Chowder with rockfish and manilla clams
ingredients
- 2 pieces of bacon cut into bite sized bits
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 Tbsp mae ploy sour curry paste (if you can find it, red curry paste would also work, the sour is actually a non-coconut based curry, my ingredient that I hadn’t tried before from my last trip to the asian supermarket)
- 2 cups-ish of diced yellow potatoes
- 1/2 lb manilla clams
- 1/2 pound rockfish filets cut into thick (about 2 inch) strips
- 16 ounces coconut milk ( I buy the tetra packs but if you have a 14 ounce can just add a bit more water)
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- Juice from one fresh lime
- cilantro and scallions to taste (I bet basil would also be nice but basil is out of season and too darn ‘spensive right now)
- rice for serving
instructions
- Add the bacon and onion to a large heavy bottomed pot and cook over medium heat until the bacon begins to crisp and the onions soften, add the curry paste and the potatoes and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the paste begins to stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Remove the bacon potato mixture from the pan and set aside. Into the dirty pot add the clams and two cups of water, increase heat and bring to a low boil. Simmer until clams open, remove clams (leaving the liquid) and set aside (if you are unlucky enough to get a clam that doesn’t pop open pop it into the garbage).
- Return the potato mixture to the broth in the pot and add the coconut milk, fish sauce, and lime juice.This is the point that I pause at until I am sure we are ready for dinner.
- Lower heat and simmer until potatoes are tender (10-15 minutes depending on the size of your cut)
- Just before serving add the rockfish and continue to simmer until the fish is opaque (about two minutes) then add the clams and serve with rice, garnish, and a wedge of lime.
I couldn’t find the sour curry paste available online but here’s the red ( I have no experience with this retailer, the reviews are mixed but they have great selection if you can’t purchase from a grocery store)
She Simmers did an amazing post about sour curry that evoked a bit of guilt for always buying the pre-made pastes. I’ve bookmarked the post and see a weekend project involving a mortar and pestle in my future.
Coconut Curry Seafood Chowder with rockfish and manilla clams
Ingredients
- 2 pieces of bacon cut into bite sized bits
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 2 Tbsp mae ploy sour curry paste if you can find it, red curry paste would also work, the sour is actually a non-coconut based curry, my ingredient that I hadn’t tried before from my last trip to the asian supermarket
- 2 cups diced yellow potatoes approximate
- 1/2 pound manilla clams
- 1/2 pound rockfish filets cut into thick about 2 inch strips
- 16 ounces coconut milk I buy the tetra packs but if you have a 14 ounce can just add a bit more water
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- Juice from one fresh lime
- cilantro and scallions to taste I bet basil would also be nice but basil is out of season and too darn ‘spensive right now
- rice for serving
Instructions
- Add the bacon and onion to a large heavy bottomed pot and cook over medium heat until the bacon begins to crisp and the onions soften, add the curry paste and the potatoes and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the paste begins to stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Remove the bacon potato mixture from the pan and set aside. Into the dirty pot add the clams and two cups of water, increase heat and bring to a low boil. Simmer until clams open, remove clams (leaving the liquid) and set aside (if you are unlucky enough to get a clam that doesn’t pop open pop it into the garbage).
- Return the potato mixture to the broth in the pot and add the coconut milk, fish sauce, and lime juice.This is the point that I pause at until I am sure we are ready for dinner.
- Lower heat and simmer until potatoes are tender (10-15 minutes depending on the size of your cut)
- Just before serving add the rockfish and continue to simmer until the fish is opaque (about two minutes) then add the clams and serve with rice, garnish, and a wedge of lime.
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