Maine Clams in Coconut Curry Broth

I went grocery shopping yesterday at a branch of a local grocery chain that I had never been to. Every time I go to a new grocery store, I feel like I have entered a new world. Someone else's world. Actually, going to the grocery store is my favorite thing to do on vacations. Restaurants serve up local flavor but the grocery store is the real heartbeat of a place. After all, home cooked meals are what a place is really about.

Of course, to visit a new grocery store in the proximity of home, especially in the ninth month of living somewhere, is kind of weird. I'm at a stage in life here where I feel like I should know where things are, and I didn't there. At the same time, it was pretty close to a carbon copy of the same chain in my hometown. So all at once everything was foreign but eerily familiar. Weird how that works, isn't it?

I think the perceived "newness" of the store is partially why I went. I'm trying to challenge myself as much as I can to do new things, especially when something is out of my comfort zone. A grocery store I don't know, though mundane and non-poetic at best, was something that I was avoiding. So, there I went. And I don't know if it was the new store or what, but I bought several things I normally wouldn't. Week to week grocery shopping falls into a routines for better or worse, and for whatever reason, yesterday I was (subconsciously) hell bent on forgoing it.

Somewhere in the back of the store I came upon the fish counter. There were clams in little netted bags outside of be counter, on ice.  I had never cooked clams before but had seen them cooked so I thought, "eh, how hard can it be?" Besides, they were only $1 a pound.

I wanted them in a curry broth, because Garret and I had ordered that at a restaurant in town a few months back and it was delicious. I typed that into google, and as usually happens when I am typing something all too specific into google, it turned up no results. So I decided to forgo that and really make this cooking clams thing an experiment by making it up as I went along.

I did manage to google HOW to cook clams. The answer is that you put them in shallow, boiling liquid (water or broth) and cover the pot or pan until the shells pop open. If any don't open, toss those clams.

Here is the recipe I came up with, if you want to try it. Trust me, it was delicious! 

Maine clams in coconut curry broth.

Maine Clams in Coconut Curry Broth

You will need:

• 3-4 pounds of clams. I used Maine but I bet others would be fine too.
• 1/4 cup of lite coconut milk
• 2 cups chicken broth 2 tbs curry powder
• 6-7 chopped green onions (top green part and lower white part)
• A small bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
• A tiny dash of cumin - like 1/8 tsp
• A dash of black pepper
• The juice of one lime 

Here's what to do:

• In a large saucepan, heat the chicken broth until it boils.
• Stir the coconut milk in and turn the heat down.
• Simmer.
• Add curry powder.
• Add the green onions and cilantro.
• Continue to simmer the broth for about ten minutes, and then stir in the lime juice.
• When you are ready to cook the clams, turn the heat back up on the broth until it is again at a boil. 
• Add the clams, submerging each in the broth. They will be about halfway immersed.
• Cover and cook approximately five minutes or until the clams have opened.

Serve in a shallow bowl (like a pasta dish).

Place clams inside and then use a ladle to pour some of the broth over them.

We served it with pasta, which I attempted to toss in garlic and basil olive oil but for some reason came out flavorless. Luckily my bowl of broth was standing by, which I submerged my pasta in. I think this would be best though with a hearty garlic bread - maybe on sourdough. Something doughy and crusty to soak up the broth.