Clams Archives - Aayi's Recipes

Clams in dry masala (Kalva/Tisre/Khubbe sud sud sukke)

Now that’s a funny name!!!. Sud-sud (or sad-sad as some people say) in Konkani means loose and it looks very weird when I am writing it in English :). Sukke is a dry dish which usually has coconut. Kalva, Tisre, Khubbe are 3 different types of clams.

There are some people in your life, with whom you get attached/attracted very fast. One such person whom I totally adore is V’s maternal grandmother. She is 80+ years old, but she is so full of energy that I always get lots of inspiration from her. She was a great cook, but don’t cook these days because she cannot walk so much. But she still loves to learn new dishes, talk about them, give me new dishes. She knows I love to cook, so whenever we call her, she has one or the other recipe ready for me. She even collects them from newspapers to give to me.

This time when we were in Bangalore, we went to meet her. She wanted to give me so many recipes – some new, some age old. (I think V was very jealous because I was getting more attention than him 🙂 ). This recipe is one age-old recipe she gave to me.

I cooked this while I was in India. This was the first time I cleaned clams on my own. I left one shell with the clams to give it a “restaurant style food” look. You can discard both the shells or use one as I did. Anyway while eating, the shell is discarded, but according to me, it’s a lot of fun to eat the clams with shells (only some clam fans will understand what I am saying). I simply loved this dish.

This is my entry to Sig’s JFI tamarind. Thanks Sig for extending the deadline, I was having a brain block thinking what to send. I just realized today, this may be the best entry from me.

Ingredients:
5 cups clams-with-shells or about 1 cup without-shell-clams
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
A pinch turmeric
1 tea spn chilli powder
1/4 tea spn tamarind extract or 2-3 pieces of tamarind soaked in water
Oil
Salt

Method:
Heat oil and fry onion till they are translucent.
Add coconut and fry for a min. Now add the clams, cook for 2-3mins.
In a bowl, mix chilli powder, turmeric, tamarind, salt. Add this to the clams mixture. Cook till clams are done. Serve hot.

Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 15mins

Clam vada (Khubbe/tisre vade)

15 Comments / Clams, NonVeg / By Shilpa

Few of my friends want me to post some non vegetarian dishes here. Its been a long time I tasted any non veg except for shrimps. So I was wondering when I would post this classic dish. Few days back, my dear friend Deepa reminded me of this. So when my brother went for a short trip to my native, Aayi prepared this and my brother took pictures.

When I was growing up, I was a big fan of clams. Read more about clams in my Kalwa sukke recipe. Opening these clams from thier shells is a big task. Few people are experts in this, but I took a long time to open them. So aayi asks the person who catches these, to open them for us. Then she would make delicious gravy and these vadas with these. The combination was just out of the world. These get a superb taste of onion and the clams.

For vagetarian version, click cabbage vada.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup clams
1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tea spn coriander seeds
1/4 tea spn tamarind extract (or 2 pieces of tamarind)
3-4 red chilies
1 cup sooji/rava
Oil
Salt

Method:
Heat little oil and fry coriander seeds. Grind them with coconut, red chilies, tamarind, salt without adding too much water. To this paste, add clams and onions.
Mix all together and make balls.

Roll the balls in rava/sooji, slightly press them with hand and shallow fry on tava. Serve with rice as a side dish.

Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 25mins

Clams gravy (Khubbe/Tisre/Kalva ambat)

23 Comments / Clams, NonVeg / By Shilpa

Few days back I had posted Khubbe/Tisre/Kalva sukke, I gave introduction to these three types of clams and where to find them. This gravy is my all time favourite (as I mentioned here).

I fondly remember my father preparing Kalva ambat when I was a kid and my mother had been to visit my grand mother. I still remember that taste. Usually my mom prepares Kubbe/tisre ambat because this kind of clams are easily available at our native (we have a river called ‘Aghanashini’ near to my home. There are some people who catch these clams and sell it for their living).

I want to send this post to Revathi’s comfort food event, because whenever my mom prepared this dish, I eat atleast double my capacity :). Choosing this entry was a bit difficult, as all the food prepared by my mom is comfort food for me.

Ingredients:
Clams 1 cup
Coconut 1 cup
Onion 1
Red chilies 5-6
Tamarind 1/2 tea spn or Raw mango pieces 2-3 or Bimbal 2
Coriander seeds 1 tea spn
Oil 1 tea spn
Salt
Eggplant(vangi) pieces (optional) 1/2 cup
Drumstick (optional) 5-6 pieces

Usually when Khubbe/tisre are used, eggplant and drumstick are also added to make it more tasty. But some people do this gravy without these two also. Also few of the shells are left intact with the meat.
Kalva meat is little bigger than khubbe/tisre. For this gravy, vegetables are not used. These are usually found in the stones, so they do not have seperate shells.

Method:
Heat oil and fry coriander seeds. Grind them with coconut, tamarind (if using) and red chillies.
Heat oil and fry onion. When they turn slightly brownish, add clams fry for a minute, and add drumstick(optional), eggplant(optional) and mango/bimbal (if using). When clams are cooked (it will take about 8-10mins, they shrink in size considerably). Add masala and salt. Cook till masala is done.
Serve with hot rice.

Serves : 4
Preparation time : 20mins

Clams in coconut masala (Tisre/Khubbe/Kalva sukke)

32 Comments / Clams, Konkani Recipes, NonVeg / By Shilpa

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 :D. 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.

See Mahek’s version of Tisre sukke here.

Pictorial:
Make coconut masala.

Fry onion.

Add clams.

Add the masala and cook.

Clams in coconut masala (Tisre/Khubbe/Kalva sukke)

Clams cooked in spicy coconut masala

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Total Time 20

Servings 3

Ingredients

Clams 3/4 cup
3/4 cup coconut
1/2 cup onions
1/2 tea spn coriander seeds
Oil
1/2 tea spn tamarind extract
1 small potato Optional
5-6 red chillies
Salt

Instructions

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.

Notes

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.