Ularthiyathu style of preparation generally involves the meat being stir fried and sauteed till we get a spicy dry dish. Though this form of cooking can be applied on most meat, I believe it is most popularly done on pork and beef. Here we will use clam meat or kakka irachi instead.
Ingredients (serves 2)
Set-1
- Kakka irachi / Clam meat - 250 gms
- Coconut- 1/4 cup (chopped)
- Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp
- Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
- Coriander powder - 1 tsp
- Ginger - 1 tsp (sliced)
- Garlic - 1 tsp (sliced)
- Garam masala - 1 tsp
- Onion - 1 (medium sized)
- Green chilli - 2 pieces
- Salt - to taste
Set-2
- Mustard seed - 1 tsp
- Ginger - 1 tsp (sliced)
- Garlic - 1 tsp (sliced)
- Shallot - 2 tbsp (sliced)
- Curry leaves - few
- Meat masala - 1 tsp
- Pepper powder - 2 tsp
- Coconut oil - 2 tbsp
Method
Extract and clean the meat
Place the clam in a vessel with water such that the water completely covers the clam. Boil for around 15 minutes; the
clam shells should now start to open up. Continue on medium flame till all the shells open up. Allow to cool, and then peel out the meat from the shell. Wash the meat in several changes of water until the water runs clear.
Take the clam meat in a pan and add turmeric powder, a bit of salt and some water to it. Boil for around 3-4 minutes. This is done to further clean the meat of any impurities. Filter the contents to get the clam meat.
Preparation
Step-1
The first step involves using the ingredients mentioned under set-1. Take a pan and add all the ingredients mentioned, add a cup of water and mix well. Check for salt and add as necessary. Cover the lid and let it to boil on medium flame till the water completely evaporates. Open the lid and saute the mix for few seconds and turn off the flame.
Step-2 (use ingredients from set-2)
Pour oil on to a pan and heat on medium flame. Once the oil is heated up, add mustard seeds. Wait till the mustard seeds stop to flutter. Add ginger, garlic, shallot and curry leaves and saute well till shallot turns golden brown. Add the clam meat mix from step one. Mix the contents well. Add pepper powder and meat masala. Continuously stir the contents till meat turns dark brown. You might need to add more oil in case the mixture becomes dry before we get our final dark brown output. For a spicier dish, you can choose to add more pepper powder.
Serve it hot as a side dish to a main course; it also goes very well as an appetizer 🙂
As a side note, clam meat is a high source of iron, apparently a better choice than beef liver. Clams are a good source of phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese and selenium, as well.