Smoky Wok

La la clams are a type of bamboo clams that are uber popular with seafood lovers in Malaysia/ Singapore.  These shellfish are cooked in a variety of ways, spicy, sweet and sour and the list goes on.  For today's feature, I am returning to the basics and presenting a family favourite of mine - la la clams in a gingery and slightly spicy concoction of yellow bean sauce.  You can substitute these clams with other varieties like manila clams, bamboo clams and even razor clams.  As most of you may know, almost 90% of a good seafood dish is in the freshness of the seafood you bought - fresh seafood almost always never disappoints and needs little 'dressing up' in way of condiments although overcooking may be another issue.



We were lucky enough to find these plump la la clams today and just for your information, you should never buy dead la la clams, unlike say manila clams that still taste alright.  The flavours of this dish are clean and simple, an earthy savouriness from the yellow bean sauce, heat from some chilli peppers, fragrance from the ginger and of course an umami brininess from the clams.  All in all, a simple stir-fry dish that you can whip up in a matter of minutes which just happens to taste simply amazing.  Do note however that this dish is best served hot.  A little tip to get rid of any lingering 'fishiness', you can place them in boiling water containing a few slices of ginger and a stalk of smashed green onions, the traditional tip is to soak clams in salt water before cooking but we find that it reduces the flavours of the shellfish and with fresh good quality clams, the step is not absolutely necessary.  In addition, as yellow bean sauce is already really salty, do use a very light hand when adding the tiny bit of soya sauce that brings out the taste of the bean sauce.



As I was talking to my mom about this post since I will be featuring her recipe, she told me that in her childhood days, my late grandmother would save and clean the la la clam shells where the children would later challenge each other to see whose clam shell was the hardest and the one whose clam shell broke first would be the loser.  She often tells me stories of how the children in her neighbourhood would keep themselves entertained and I am always amazed at how creative they were at inventing little games, this was in part also a necessity of sorts since my mom spent her early childhood days in a rather poorer area of town.


This feature is a part of my series of Yuen Chun Recipes, an ongoing project on Tastes of Home.  The Yuen Chun brand is considered a 老字号 (a time-honoured brand) in Malaysia with a 100 year old history and has been used in our family kitchens since the time of my late maternal grandmother.

Serving suggestion: Steamed rice

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For blanching:

Water
Smashed green onion
1 slice of ginger

1 kg of live La La clams (or substitute with other species of clams e.g. manila, bamboo), rinsed well and place in pot in fridge
5-6 cloves garlic, roughly minced
1/2 cup thin slivers of young ginger (skin peeled)
1 large red chilli pepper, sliced

Seasoning:

2 tbsp yellow bean sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce

Yellow bean sauce or 'taucu' from Yuen Chun


Method:

Firstly, make sure your clams were rinsed well under running cold water to remove sand.  Boil a pot of water and place the green onion, salt and ginger into the pot.  Add in the clams and remove after about 10 seconds to avoid cooking the clams too much. 

Heat up a wok until almost smoking.  Add in about 2 tbsps of cooking oil.  Turn heat to medium low and add in garlic, ginger and red chilli pepper slices.  Stir fry till aromatic, add in the bean sauce.  Stir fry around and do a taste test.  Add the light soy sauce and quickly add in the blanched clams earlier. 

Turn heat up to high and stir fry the clams briskly, turning your spatula rapidly.  Turn heat to medium and cover for about 5 minutes.  (Please adjust according to the size of your clams, the ones I used were quite large).  Remove cover, turn heat up to high, give the clams a few last turns in the wok and dish out.  Serve hot.