Lugaw With Mussels or Clams

Posted byNoriePosted inLegumes, Pancits, Pastas and Rice, Recipe, Seafood, Snacks, SoupTags:
(Rice With Mussels or Clams Soup)

Ingredients:

  • 2 doz. Manila clams or 1 dozen mussels
  • 1 tsp grated or julienned ginger root
  • 1/2 cup chopped onions
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
  • 8 cups water
  • ¾ cup long grain rice uncooked and washed
  • salt, black pepper
  • Chopped green onions and/or fried garlic for garnish

Steam the clams or mussels first, with or without ginger root. Let cool and reserve the liquid. Remove the clams or mussels from the shells and cut up in smaller pieces if you prefer.

In 1 TBS cooking oil, sauté garlic and ginger root until golden, add onions and sauté until soft. Add the chopped clams or mussels. Stir a couple of seconds then add the reserved liquid made up to about 8 cups with additional water. Boil, then add the 3/4 cup washed rice and simmer until rice is very soft and cracked stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. The soup is supposed to be a little thick. Season with salt, pepper and a dash of MSG. Serve with chopped green onions (scallions) and/or fried garlic as garnish on the individual bowls. Drizzle with a few drops of fresh lemon juice or calamansi, patis or salt at the table.

But you can use the clams in the shells also and save some steps. Proceed as below:

A shortcut to this is sauté the garlic, onions and ginger root, add the water and after the rice is almost done, drop in the clams or mussels in the shells. Remove the meat from the shells as you eat them on your plate. The clams or mussels may be chewy.

Good accompaniment is fried Tofu, with or without pork (Tokwa’t baboy)

This dish, as with other lugaw dishes is eaten as a mid-afternoon snack and not as a main dish as a meal in the Philippines. But here we do not do a heavy mid-afternoon snack so we eat it as a meal, usually at supper when everybody is home.