Cooking with Karen Spice things up with moreish mussels, a fillet o’ fish sandwich and zesty pork chops

Move over tomato broth – these mussels are served in a yummy curry that is extra tasty because the paste is made from scratch. With prawns and white fish, it’s a spicy, soupy, seafood spectacular.

Preparation time 30 mins plus 20 mins soaking Cooking time 20 mins Serves 6 1kg mussels, scrubbed clean 250ml tamarind paste 80g palm sugar 2 cups good-quality chicken stock 8 kaffir lime leaves 1 Tbsp fish sauce, to taste 1 yellow celery heart, sliced into 6 pieces lengthways 6 baby corn, halved lengthways 2 handfuls green beans or snake beans, trimmed 2 tomatoes, cut in 1cm dice (optional) 600-800g green prawns, heads and tails on, mid-section shelled, deveined 1kg blue eye, hapuka or flathead fish fillets, roughly chopped Coriander sprigs, to garnish Cooked jasmine or long-grain rice, to serve (optional)

PASTE

50g dried small shrimp

8 dried large red chillies 8 cloves garlic, peeled 6 coriander roots and stems,

washed and chopped Sea-salt flakes

3 tsp coriander seeds

6 red shallots or 1 small red or

white onion, chopped

STEP 1 For paste, put shrimp and chillies in separate bowls. Cover both with boiling water and soak for 20 minutes. Drain, roughly chop and put in a blender, then blitz on high speed. In a mortar and pestle, crush garlic with coriander. Add a pinch of salt and coriander seeds and crush. Add shallots and garlic mixture to blender, and blitz into a paste.

STEP 2 Heat a large pot on high. Add mussels all at once, cover with lid and allow mussels to steam open in own juices, about 2 minutes maximum.

STEP 3 Tip cooked mussels into a strainer over a bowl, reserving any liquid (this is added to sauce later). Prise open about three-quarters of the mussel shells and discard empty shell halves without mussels a†ached. Leave remaining mussels whole. Set mussels aside and add any more juices to reserved mussel liquid.

STEP 4 Heat a large pot over medium and cook paste for

2-3 minutes, until fragrant. Add reserved juice, tamarind paste and palm sugar, and cook for 2-3 minutes.

STEP 5 Add stock and bring to a simmer over high heat. Add lime leaves, then add fish sauce for more saltiness, as needed. Add celery, corn, beans and tomato

(if using) and cook for 5 minutes, until celery is tender.

STEP 6 Reduce heat to medium and add prawns and fish. Cook, covered, for 2 minutes. Stir through mussels and simmer for 1 minute to reheat. Garnish curry with coriander and serve with rice (if using).