Curried Mussels in the Varoma

It was a beautiful day today, there was a seafood extravaganza at the local hypermarket, I was thinking of the seashore and I wanted something different for dinner. Organically-grown mussels from Ireland were on special so I picked up a container of them and started thinking about dinner.

I had not yet made mussels in the Thermomix and today was the perfect opportunity. Moules Marinières are a classic recipe with white wine, onion and parsley, but I fancied something a tad more exotic so I plumped for a tasty curry sauce that would enhance yet not overpower the delicate mussel flavour. Here we go:

Madame Thermomix’s Curried Mussels
This recipe brings out the best of our Best Friend in the Kitchen’s functions with a sauce (chopping, sautéing, and cooking) and the mussels themselves, delicately steamed in the Varoma. The sauce itself may seem a bit thick at first but the natural juices from the mussels drip down through the Varoma dish and turn it into a fragrant soup. I made this a fat-free meal since I used no oil to sauté but you may add some if you wish. Serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a starter. A traditional accompaniment is frites or chips/French fries; pasta is also nice and you could even cook dried pasta shapes in the sauce on Reverse Blade for an all-in-one Varoma meal.

Ingredients
2 cloves of garlic
2 cm fresh ginger, sliced along the lines of the skin into 2 mm “coins”
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
2 stalks of celery, washed and cut into 2-inch lengths
2 large fresh tomatoes, quartered – or – 1 x 400 g tin of tomatoes
1 Tbsp curry powder or to taste
¼ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
2 litres mussels, scrubbed and rinsed

Method

1. Peel the garlic 4 seconds/Speed 4 ½/Reverse Blade Direction. Remove skins and cancel Reverse Blade. With the Thermomix running at Speed 5, drop ginger, onions and celery onto the blades and turn off. Scrape sides of bowl with spatula.
2. Add tomatoes, curry powder, cinnamon and salt. Blend 30 seconds/Speed 7; scrape sides and lid of bowl. Cook 100° C/15 minutes/Speed 2. During this time, scrub, sort and rinse your mussels. Discard any that float or that have broken shells. Place the remaining mussels in the Varoma dish and rinse them one more time. Make sure some steam holes show through the bottom of the Varoma dish.
3. At the end of the sauce cooking time, place the Varoma on top of the Thermomix lid and steam your mussels on Varoma Setting/10 minutes/Speed 2 or until all the mussels have just opened. Serve immediately in deep bowls and cover with the sauce, accompanied by chips, pasta, rice or salad. Make sure you put out big spoons to get all the delicious soup-like sauce!

Bon appétit !

PRINT THIS RECIPE

Please like & share: