Aayi’s Recipes Konkan/Konkani food blog, Indian culinary treasures

Clams are used widely in Konkani cooking. ‘Aghanashini’ river flows at our native. During the low tide days, people stand in knee high water and pick up the clams. While using for cooking, the clams are opened carefully and the soft meat inside the shell is used in a variety of dishes. Usually one of the two shells is kept intact for some clams. I do not know why the shells are used, but when we were kids we always fought with each other to get the shells . It was a competition to see who got more shells.

There are many types of clams used in cooking. We used 3 types of them. First one is called ‘Tisre’ in Konkani. It looks like this and has many lines on the shell. Second type is called ‘Khubbe’, which doesn’t have the lines. Some people eat the first type and do not eat the second and vice versa. (Some more information about these types can be found here).The third type is called ‘kalva’, these are found in big stones near the sea shore. Any of the three types of clams can be used for this dish.

Few days back, Kalpita sent me a very sweet mail. She had asked to post ‘Tisre sukke’ here. When I searched in the nearby Chinese store, I found the cooked ‘Kalva’ in the frozen section. There were many types of clams available in that store. All of them were too big. Usually the big ones cause stomach pain, so I almost left the hope of getting the good ones. Then I saw ‘Fresh water cooked clams’ in the frozen section. They looked like

See Mahek’s version of Tisre sukke here.

Ingredients:
Clams 3/4 cup
Coconut 3/4 cup
Onions 1/2 cup
Coriander seeds 1/2 tea spn
Oil 1 tea spn
Tamarind 1/2 tea spn
Potato (Optional) 1 small
Red chillies 5-6
Salt

It is lot of fun if few of the shells are left intact while using for cooking. My mom never adds potato to this dish, but few people like it with potato.

Method:
Heat oil and fry coriander seeds. Grind them with chillies, tamarind and coconut to a smooth paste adding very little water.
Heat remaining oil and fry onion till they turn slightly brownish. Add potato cut into cubes, clams and fry for a minute. Add 1/2 cup water and cook for around 10 mins.
Now add ground masala, salt and cook till all water is absorbed and a dry dish is got.
Serve hot with rice as a side dish.

Serves : 3
Preparation time : 20mins