I remember the first time I had clam soup, it was incredibly flavorful. Just seeing the tender white clams in the broth was enough to whet my appetite. When I asked my grandmother who lived by the sea how to cook clams deliciously, she shared a variety of methods like stir-fried clams, steamed clams, and spicy clams, making my mouth water. Among all these ways to prepare clams, my favorite is still the clam soup I had for the first time.
How to Cook Clams Deliciously: Home-Style Clam Soup
Ingredients
300 grams of clams, 1/2 yellow pepper, 1/2 green pepper, ginger, salt, cooking wine, sesame oil (all in appropriate amounts).
Cooking Method
1. Clean the clams; shred the ginger and set aside; remove the seeds from the peppers, clean them, and slice them into strips.
2. Heat a small amount of sesame oil in a pot, add the green and yellow pepper slices and stir-fry briefly. Add an appropriate amount of water and bring to a boil.
3. Add the clams, ginger shreds, salt, and cooking wine, and cook until the clam shells open. Switch to low heat and cook for about 2 more minutes before turning off the heat immediately.
The Secret to Cooking Delicious Clam Soup
When making clam soup, the meat shrinks quickly once the shells open, causing the original flavor to dissipate, making the clam meat less tasty. My grandmother invented a method: make a cut on the locking part of the back of each live clam that has been soaked in water to clean away the mud and sand (do not cut all the way through), then cook the clam soup. The shells will not open, the meat will not dry out, and the original flavor will not be lost. This makes the meat tender and the taste exceptionally fresh when eating.
How to Cook Clams Deliciously: Steamed Clams with Garlic
Ingredients
10 clams. 2 grams of salt, 1 gram of chicken essence, 10 grams of minced garlic, a small amount of soy sauce and salad oil. A small amount of scallion and cilantro.
Cooking Method
1. Open the shells of the clams, remove the flesh, remove the black membrane, and wash thoroughly with water.
2. Mix the minced garlic with salt and chicken essence for seasoning, fry it in oil until fragrant, pour it over the clam shells, steam for 2-3 minutes, drizzle with a little soy sauce, sprinkle with scallion and cilantro as garnish, and serve.
This method is simple and helps prevent the loss of nutrients in the clams.
How to Cook Clams Deliciously: Sichuan-Style Stir-Fried Clams
Ingredients
250 grams of clams, 50 grams of green peppers, 50 grams of red peppers, 10 grams of sliced mushrooms, and 10 grams of sliced bamboo shoots. Scallion, minced garlic, salt, MSG, cooking wine, cornstarch, clear broth, sesame oil, and vegetable oil (all in appropriate amounts).
Cooking Method
1. Wash the green peppers and red peppers, and cut them into strips; mix cornstarch, salt, and MSG with clear broth to make a flavoring sauce.
2. Clean and prepare the clams, pat them dry, and deep-fry them in oil until they are almost cooked, then drain the oil.
3. Heat some oil in the pan, sauté the scallion and minced garlic until fragrant, then add the green pepper strips, red pepper strips, mushroom strips, and bamboo shoot strips and stir-fry briefly.
4. Add the cooking wine, clams, and the reserved liquid, stir well, thicken with cornstarch, drizzle with sesame oil, and serve.
Tips for Storing Clams
After learning how to cook clams deliciously, including clam soup, what should we do if we have leftover clams? First, add a small amount of vegetable oil to clean water and soak the clams for two to three days to allow them to expel any sand. Add an appropriate amount of table salt to the water to achieve a salinity similar to seawater, and the clams can be kept alive for several days.