Kepah Masak Cili Padi (Spicy Chili Clams)

I promise this is not a "clams only" food blog. Yes, my previous post was something to do with clams also. Here's the thing - it's the school holidays here in Malaysia, and my two precious nephews are here. My dad took them to a small island nearby for a picnic and also managed to dig out a bucket of siput kepah (clams). They're about 3-5cm in length, mostly in shades of greyish-brown with simple line patterns on them.

There are many delicious recipes for cooking kepah. Rasa Malaysia loves clams and she has made many delicious clam recipes for us. I sure wish I could visit her and bring some clams along :-P. You may like to browse thru her clam recipes!

The other day, Sue made Spagheti Aglio Olio using prawns and fresh white clams. Today, she made 2 types of clams: Savoury Clams (which, I was not around to enjoy) and Spicy Chili Clams.
Spicy Chili Clams is Sue's own recipe which calls for very spicy bird's eye chilis and is very simple to make.

:: Recipe ::
Bird's eye chili, pounded (as much/little as you like)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cube ikan bilis (anchovies) stock
1 tespon sugar
1 teaspoon parsley (use fresh parsley if you have)
Kepah (clams) 500gm
olive oil, for cooking
Heat up a large pan with olive oil. We prefer olive oil for health reasons but generally, in Malaysia, olive oil is rather expensive. Any vegetable oil will do, really. Then throw in the chopped garlic and stir. Hmmphh, don't you just loveee the smell of the garlic being fried? It makes me hungry instantly. I think the smell is like an appetizer, it makes me smile, happy, hungry, and want food!
Then, fry the pounded chili. Here we have colourful chilis just for fun. We have these growing in our garden, so grabbing a bunch of different colours just adds fun! Pounding the chilis brings out the flavours and the spiciness. If you cut them, it's also ok, and probably less spicy. Just throwing the whole chili in would make it less spicy.
Throw in the clams and cover for 3-5 minutes until clams open up. Clams, if alive before cooking may spit out quite some saltwater, so it is best that you leave them in a dry bowl for at least 30 minutes to force them to spit out as much salt water in them. Otherwise, you will be drinking salt water clam soup. :-) Salt is also almost unnecessary here. A dash of white wine would be brilliant for cooking clams too.
They beautiful greyish colour now turn orange and the clams are almost cooked. Sprinkle the ikan bilis cube, just to add some flavouring and stir. Add in the parsley flakes (or freshly chopped parsley) and continue stirring for another 2-3 minutes.
As this was a last minute recipe, we made it quite simple. There were a few more ingredients that we wanted to add to make it more interesting: chopped tomatoes, fresh lemongrass and even the fresh parsley. Am sure it would taste delicious too!
This is in deed a very spicy dish because of the pounded chilis we put in. I enjoyed eating the clams, and the soup was very tasty though such a simple recipe. As we ate quite a lot of clams, I think I shall retire from eating clams for a few months to come. Leaving some clams for you clamaholics out there! :-)

My other Clams recipe:
My Clams with Chili & Ginger recipe
Spagheti Aglio Olio, using prawns and clams