Vietnamese Steamed Mussels With Lemongrass- Recipe

Vietnamese Steamed Mussels With Lemongrass and Vietnamese Herbs

Ever level up a butter wine sauce and cook it down with fresh mussels, and colorful aromatics like Vietnamese purple basil, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, chives, jalepeno, red chili, siracha, cilantro and fish sauce? It’s like the most aromatic and flavorful combination!

Mmm nom nom nom 🤤

INGREDIENTS

2 tbs cooking oil (Tea seed oil, or Light EVOO)
2 shallots, thinly sliced into rounds/minced (about 1/2 cup)
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of black pepper
4 garlic cloves thinly sliced

 Mussel sauce:
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup wine
3 stalks lemongrass, trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces, and lightly smashed (3/4 cup)
3 1/8-inch-thick slices fresh ginger
Zest of 3/4 lime (green part only)
2 lb. mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded
1 red serrano (or other small hot red chile), sliced into thin rounds

1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs oyster sauce
8 tbs butter
1 tbs Siracha

AROMATICS:

• 2 stalks lemongrass (remove outer stalks, and slice thinly in long 3-4” pieces)

• 1/8 cup chopped cilantro (leave some whole sprigs of cilantro for final garnishing)

• 1/8 cup Thai basil or Vietnamese purple basil (leave some whole leaves for final garnishing)

• 1 jalapeño, partially seeded and minced (I used about 3 tsp, de-seed for less heat, save some whole slices for final garnish)

• 1/2 bird eye chili sliced (I used about 4 tsp, de-seed for less heat, save some whole slices for final garnish)

• 1/2 cup of scallions chopped in 1” sections (optional: leave and strip/curl for stripping for garnish)

• Juice of 1/4 lime
  

• Garnish with fresh cilantro sprigs and Thai basil + Scallion strips + pepper chili 
  
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  PREPARATION
  
  1. Clean/scrub/de-beard mussels
  2. Cut / prepare all herbs   
  3. Heat the oil in a large deep pot over medium heat. Add the shallots & garlic and season with a little fresh cracked salt and pepper and cook over high heat, stirring, until the garlic and shallots are softened and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. 
  4. Add the mussels, water, wine, cover and steam the mussels until they open, about 2-5 minutes. 
  5. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the mussels to a large bowl and discard any mussels that do not open (set aside bowl).
  6. Use a sieve to strain the marinade left in the pan into a separate bowl. Clean out pan, repeat step #3, then add back in your strained marinade and stir in lemongrass, ginger, & lime zest.  Once it gets to a boil, lower to a simmer and add brown sugar, fish sauce, Sriracha, oyster sauce, and butter and let simmer for about10-15 min covered (should be strong and a bit salty but not too salty). 
  7. Once wine has cooked down (shouldn’t taste too wine’y), add your scallions, jalepeno, chili and minced cilantro and gently mix for about 30 seconds.
  8. Then add mussels back in and let steam for another 3-4 min until they are partially cooked through (don’t over steam them or they will shrink to nothing and become very chewy).
  9. Squeeze a little fresh lime juice on top, then transfer mussels to a large serving bowl (or a couple medium bowls) and discard any mussels that haven’t opened (any unopened mussels means they were dead upon cooking and are not edible).
  10. Ladle the broth over the mussels. Garnish with fresh herbs & lime wedges (Cilantro sprigs, scallion strips, thai basil)