Manglorean style "Marvai pundi" (clams and rice dumplings in coconut curry sauce)

Today for dinner I cooked manglorean style clam and rice dumplings in Coconut curry sauce, Its yummy and taste fantastic with all the herbs combination, totally outrages. HUbby and I have decided to make a conscious effort to eat more seafood. This effort probably won't be cheap. But if we try to spoil ourselves on a seafood dinner at home, we are less likely to splurge on a fancy dinner out were that salmon or king fish fillet is likely to cost 3 to 4 times more. So whatever the occasion we eat at home and ate well. This is amazing curry broth and I suspect mussels would be equally as divine!

Ingredients for Pundi:

1. 2 cups- Parboiled rice/ white ukde thandul
2. salt as per taste

Ingredients for clam curry sauce:

1. 1/2 kg Clams/kubbe/marvai/thisre
2. 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
3. 1 onion,chopped
4. 1 tbsp coconut oil/any veg oil

Ingredients for the masala/sauce:

1. 3 cups Coconut.grated
2. 10-12 Kashmiri red chillies ( you can use 2-3 guntur or any hot chillies if you like it more spicy)
3. 2tsp Coriander seeds
4. 1/4tsp Cumin/jeera
5. 8-10 Fenugreek/methi seeds
6. 1Onion,sliced
7. 10 Pepper corns
8. 1/2tsp Turmeric /haldi
9. 6-7 Garlic cloves
10. 1/2 inch Ginger,chopped fine
11. 1/2tsp Mustard seeds
12. 1 Marble sized ball of Tamarind
13. 1tsp coconut oil or any veg oil

Cooking Directions:

For Pundi:

1. For rice dumplings,soak rice for about 6-7 hours and grind to coarse paste with 3 cups of and salt to taste.
2. then transfer to a thick bottom pan and cook on medium flame till the moisture evaporates and you are left with a lump(this should not be too dry,you must be able to form balls).
3. Let it cool for sometime,then start making small round,flat shaped dumplings almost as a coin shape.You can make about 25-30 dumpling from this dough.
4. Now boil water in a idli steamer and steam for about 15 minutes or till done.

For clams :

• Place the clams in a large bowl and fill with water until the clams are fully submerged. Allow them to rest for 30 minutes to an hour to encourage them to filter out any sand and grit.
• Gently remove each clam one at a time and scrub away any grit on the outside of the shell.
• Now take one vessel and add 2 cups of water.Add all the clams and simmer the calms for 5-7 minutes or until most of the shells have opened. Discard any unopened clams.When its cool open and discard one shell keeping one with the flesh and save the liquid left over after boiling the cockles for the gravy.

For the masala:

• Dry roast the ,chillies, coriander, cumin, pepper corns, fenugreek seeds,1/2 tsp mustard and lastly add turmeric and switch off the gas.
• Transfer this to a blender and in the same pan add 1 chopped onion and little oil (about 1tsp) and fry on low flame till you get the nice aroma.
• Grind coconut ,roasted masala ingredients ,fried onion,garlic cloves,ginger and tamarind to fine paste.

For the clam curry sauce:

• Heat cooking pot,add coconut oil/any veg oil.Add remaining mustard and onion chopped and saute for a while till onion turns to golden brown.
• Stir in the coconut Paste and clam juice in which clams have boiled, whisking to break up and lumps in the coconut paste. Add salt to taste and some more water if needed to make the gravy little thin. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add the clams, cover and reduce heat,cook for 5 minutes.
• Now add steamed rice dumplings/pundi and boil further 10-15 minutes till the gravy is thickens.
• Serve after few hours or keep it overnight to let the rice dumpling soak in the gravy.