Clams with Chili and Ginger

Fresh clams. Good for stir frys or toss them in yummy spaghetti vongole...oh wow. I miss that Italian dish right now!

Commonly found on the stretch of sandy beaches in Malaysia, this is one of the favourite seafood items. It's tasty and succulent - no matter Asian, Italian or Western style. In Penang we commonly call it "Kepah" in Malay. Or just call it "siput" which basically means "shell".
It also had beautiful natural colours, usually stripes of browns and greys. I sometimes dig and find these clams on the sandy beach, anywhere in Penang, really. Seasonal, I should guess so but we do it for fun... after which we let the clams go back to where they belong. For cooking, we head to the local wet market to buy them.

:: Stir fry clams with chili and ginger ::
Ingredients
Fresh clams, cleansed
Ginger, thinly sliced
Red chilies and/or cili padi (birds eye chili), pounded
Garlic, pounded alonwith the chilies
Spring onions, cut to 1 inch lengths
Oyster sauce
Corn flour, to thicken the juice

Heat some cooking oil in a large pan, fry the chili mix and ginger till aromatic. Throw in clams and close with lid until clams open up, which is just a few minutes. Add some oyster sauce, and add in the spring onions and mix. Add in the corn flour(mix with a little hot water first) to thicken the juice.

Serve immediately while still hot, with steamed jasmine rice.
It does not take up much time to cook these clams. You know it's cooked when the shells open up. That's when the juice comes out and makes the flavour really savoury and delicious.

I love this seafood dish very much! There are pretty interesting recipes which you would love to have a look at:
Rasa Malaysia's wonderful post on Savoury Clams
Melonfish's similar adaptation with their Stir fry Clams with Chili Paste & Oyster Sauce
Malaysia Best's Stir Fry Lala
Thai Food Recipe with delicious basil stir fry clams: Hoy Lai Pad Num Prik Prao