Mussel fritters with cucumber & mint salad

These fritters will be a winner in any household, and they are quick, fresh and easy to make.

Recipe: Ray McVinnie Photo: Keiran Scott Serves: 4-6

■ 4 tbsp fish sauce

■ 4 tbsp lime juice

■ 1 tbsp sugar

■ 1 red chilli, thinly sliced

■ 30 live mussels, well scrubbed

■ 50ml dry white wine

■ 1 egg, beaten

■ 3⁄ cup flour

4

■ 1⁄ tsp baking powder

2

■ 2 spring onions, thinly sliced

■ 2 tbsp coriander, chopped

■ Grapeseed or another lightly flavoured vegetable oil for frying

■ 1 cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, deseeded and thinly sliced

■ 1⁄ cup roasted unsalted peanuts

2

■ 1⁄ cup mint leaves

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Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and chilli in a bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. This is the base for the salad. Reserve.

Put the mussels in a saucepan and add the wine. Place over high heat and bring to the boil to steam the mussels open, removing them to a bowl as they do. Strain, cool and reserve the cooking liquid. You will have about 11⁄ cups.

2

Allow the mussels to cool, then remove them from their shells and pull out and discard the tongues, including the white roots. Thinly slice the mussels. Put the egg, flour, baking powder and 1⁄ cup of the

2 mussel cooking liquid into a bowl, and whisk until smooth (freeze the remaining cooking liquid to use in seafood soups, stews or sauces). Add the mussels, spring onions and coriander to the flour mix and stir to combine.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until hot, then fry large spoonfuls of the mussel mix, in batches, until bubbles appear on the surface.

Turn and fry until the undersides are well browned, then transfer to the oven to keep warm (don’t fry the fritters at too high a heat or the insides won’t be cooked before the outsides brown). You should have about 12.

When ready to serve, add the cucumber, peanuts and mint to the salad base and mix well. Serve the fritters with the salad on the side.