Who’s ready for some post holiday blues recipe? Get this ready for your dinner treat. Go on, you know you want to!
This is a super easy recipe which I’ve always been too scared to attempt and would rather leave it up to the professionals in super Chinese kitchens.
Turns out, it’s really simple and easy to serve up. The fear was just all in my head.
Pipies (in Australia) and Lala (in Malaysia and Singapore) otherwise known as clams to the rest of the world are delicious little molluscs of joy and they are super easy to cook.
We bought a kilo of these beautifies from the market last week and I cooked them in my favourite Malaysian style, Kam Heong style (Golden Fragrance if translated directly from Cantonese).
As with all Malaysian home cooked recipes, the challenge was in the measurement of the ingredients as a lot of the way Malaysians cook is by taste. A pinch of this and a drop of that. So I played around with a few recipes I found online (namely from Kuali.com and Lily’s Wai Sek Hong)
Kam Heong La La (Pipies / Clams in Spicy Fragrant Sauce) Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg of Clams (soaked in water)
- 5 dried Chillies (rehydrated)
- 1 tbsp of dried Shrimps
- 2-3 stalks of Curry Leaves
- 1 stalk of Lemongrass (cut into two; one smashed and the other sliced finely)
- 1 tbsp of shredded Ginger
- 1 Red Chilli (finely diced) (you can use bird's eye chilli for more spice)
- 3 French Shallots (finely diced)
- 1 stalk Spring Onion (finely diced)
- Mixture of Cornstarch and water for slurry (thickening; not to be added with the rest of the seasoning ingredients)
For the Seasoning
- 1/2 tbsp Tau Cheong (salted soybean paste)
- 1 tbsp Oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp Dark thick soy sauce
- 1 tsp Soy sauce
- 1 tsp Sugar
Instructions
- Heat about 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a hot frying pan (or a wok) and saute the dried shrimps until fragrant.
- Add in the shallots, spring onion, dried chillies, curry leaves, lemongrass, ginger and red chilli and continue to fry, taking care to toss the ingredients around until fragrant.
- Add in the clams and seasoning mixture and stir-fry on high heat. Cover with a lid for about 2 minutes or until the clam shells have all opened up. Add in 1-2 teaspoons of the slurry mixture to thicken up the sauce whilst mixing all ingredients thoroughly.
- Dish up and garnish with a sprinkling of spring onions and red chilli and serve immediately with hot steamed rice.
What do you think? The beauty of this recipe is that it caters for most shellfish and seafood. Kam Heong is the preferred style of cooking seafood which most people order when dining out at a local seafood restaurant. Be it crabs, clams or prawns, this is a finger lickin’ recipe!
Mmmm – looks so tasty – finger licking good! 🙂 Love your choice of ingredients, in particular the lemon grass and ginger.
Thanks. It’s a favourite at home!
My parents would LOVE this dish but is it hard to find pippies here?might get them to go to Springvale hehe
We bought these from Vic Market..
You’ll get them at most Asian fish shops – Richmond, box Hill, Footscray, Glen Waverley, Doncaster etc
yum! i love clams/pipies!dishes with pipis must be saucy and rich!
So good! Eat with fried mantau and I’m in heaven
Looks good girlfriend! (and gaz 😉 )
He played no part in this!
I used to dig for pipies on Fraser Island … they were used for fish bait though, I would never have thought to cook them up and eat them myself!
Nooo not fish friends!!!
This is SO beautiful. Almost as beautiful as you. x
Did you just indirectly call me a clam?
You made this dish look easy to prepare with the short and sweet recipe. Thanks a bunch!
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
Easy and delicious!
You can invite me over for a dinner of pippies any time. 😉
Okay! Bring the clams!
Dammit, this looks damn good! Didn’t know it isn’t too hard a dish to attempt either! My dad in Singapore calls pippies – “La las”. :p
Lalalalalalalaaaaaaaaaa
” best left to the professionals” you are a pro! Looks great.
My wife calls my son lala( short for Elijah) I think thats gonna have to change
hahah it’s cuteeeee