Steamed cockles with oriental dressing, an easy and light recipe.

Total: 15 min Diners: 2

One of my favorite mollusks are cockles. I love them for their delicate flavor and sweet finish, but because they contain all the iodine from the sea, they taste like pipes to me! Also, cockles are light and full of very positive nutrients for everyone and preparing them couldn’t be easier if we have an easy recipe that explains some important things.

Although in Spain we know them a lot, bivalve type shell mollusks are widely consumed in many parts of the world and, among them, in Asia. There they are usually steamed with sauces or sautéed in a wok, and that is precisely where today’s recipe comes from. It will surely remind us slightly of steamed cod with soy sauce and ginger or those spectacular sea bass that the Cantonese usually prepare this way as well.

The cockles, although they are best eaten steamed, can also be used to appear in a delicious summer salad or to be the protagonists of a rice dish, instead of the well-known clams. The important thing, besides cleaning them very well so that there is no sand left, is that we cook them very lightly so that they are extremely juicy and not wrinkled or shriveled. Something that also applies to mussels or any other bivalve.

If you are looking for more recipes for steaming, because it is healthy and also allows the product to express itself as it is, you should not miss steamed mackerel with Hasselback potatoes or steamed salmon with couscous and green mojo and you should never back down for not having a steamer because there are several ways to steam without a steamer that will allow you not to have a lot of junk in the kitchen and continue to innovate in your usual cooking techniques.

This same way of preparing cockles can be used for razor clams, clams or even for seasoning oysters by steaming them to temper them. It’s all a matter of trying!

How to steam cockles with oriental dressing

Ingredients

. Cockles, 500 g Garlic or Chinese chives, 2 pcs Fresh cilantro, to taste Lemon juice, 1 tbsp Salt, tsp/s Soy sauce, 3 tbsp Oyster sauce, 1 tsp

Step 1

Remove the cockles from the mesh and place them in a bowl with plenty of very cold water and a handful of salt. The water will have to be as salty as the sea would be, so that you have a reference. When you incorporate the salt in the water mix well before introducing the cockles. Take the cockles to the refrigerator and leave for 1 or 2 hours, stirring a little by hand every 30 minutes, so that they release all the sand.

Step 2

Carefully remove the cockles from the water, trying not to scrape them from the bottom to leave the soil they have released, and place them in a colander. Turn on the very cold water and sprinkle over the cockles, stirring them lightly with your hand to try to remove the rest of the sand that may remain. It is very unpleasant for them to have sand and that is why it is worth any care taken in this regard.

Step 3

Chop the garlic finely, or better the chives if you have them. Also chop the cilantro.

Step 4

Mix all the sauces together with the lime juice and set aside.

Step 5

Place a finger of water in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat. When it boils put the cockles and cover, let cook no more than 1 minute, which will be how long it will take to open.

Step 6

Remove the cockles, with the help of a skimmer, to the dish where we are going to serve them, and strain the juice left in the pot.

Step 7

Mix the prepared sauce with a couple of spoonfuls of the juice and pour it all over the cockles.

Step 8

Finish with the chopped garlic on top and also with the coriander leaves and eat immediately.