Here is my entry for #whatscookingchallenge by @jaynie

Our small city is surrounded by the sea and fresh sea food can be purchased everyday at our local market. Among these are the sea mussels which is called Tahong in our native dialect. Our province is known for the abundance of sea mussels and oysters. Out of the abundance gave birth to a lot of recipes and products made from mussels and oysters. Today let's have fun, have a short trip to the market with me and see what we can come up with a small tub of mussels.

Gift From the Sea "Stir Fried Sea Mussels"

At our local market there are a lot of varieties of fish and other sea foods are being sold. I often enjoy myself just going around and checking for any new varieties of seafood. Vendors line up the area selling crabs, squid, shrimp and the mussels that we will be cooking today. You can steam them, bake them, roast it over coals, make a soup out of it and the list goes on and on. One of the most popular dishes is called the "Tinolang Tahong." A soup dish mixed with young papaya, with sauteed onions and ginger. The broth of the dish is the best part of it which stands out. But we will not be doing that today.

For our recipe today i will be needing two tubs off the mussels. 1 tub cost 40 pesos which is around 76 cents. Since we will be needing two that would cost around $1.50.

With the recipe today we will be doing it asian style for that we will be using some lemongrass. You're not familiar with lemon grass it is not that leaf you are seeing right now. That leaf is called Pandan which is used here to flavor rice.

Also a great flavor to one of our popular desserts here.
Buko Pandan

Let's ask the guy for around 20 cents worth which should be enough.

That's the lemongrass with an amazing lemon scent. I'll be taking those home and I hope you don't mind the shirtless guy. Didn't bother to ask what happened to his shirt probably it's because of the heat. How come I can't go to the market shirtless?

Alright and here we are with all of our ingredients we have our fresh mussels, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and bird's eye chili. Again as ever present our trusty oak pepper grinder. Bought by SBD which forever will be a reminder for me to keep on cooking and keep on Steemin.

Make sure to clean the mussels very well. Removing some barnacles if there are any. It is also best to soak first in a solution of fresh water and a little salt. That way it would expel any dirt from them.

Be careful of those bird's eye chili if you have low tolerance for heat. Although some eat them straight up I prefer adding one or two in condiments like vinegar and soy sauce during meals.

First will need to mince around 3 cloves of garlic. No specific direction and if you don't like garlic. I'm not sure what it would taste like without it. It would be still up to you to experiment and explore.

Will need ginger just a little piece would do. Again just mince them with no specific direction. Didn't bother to remove the skin off it.

Now will need to chop our birds eye chilli these bad boys maybe too intense for some. Before adding some more you should know first what you are getting into. Our recipe we will just be using two.

Next our lemongrass just chop them in the middle. Making sure you have washed it thoroughly as they are taken straight from the ground and some dirt may still be sticking to it. Best to grow your own as they easily grow like grass. Just to add it is an amazing ingredient to add to your roasted chicken.

For the thick lower part of the lemon grass cut them into pieces that way all the flavor will be released perfectly once cooked.

Before we forget we will also need some lemon zest which we will be adding later at the end.

Not really required but I'm looking to have the lemon scent intensified.

Now that we have all our ingredients ready let's start cooking.

Like what we used before we will again use our native wood fired stove. We will need those flames burning hot as it would be an ideal temperature to saute our ingredients.

Add some oil and any oil would do. Here we used to vegetable oil.

First put in your minced garlic and stir well making sure not to burn them.

Next drop in your chopped ginger.

Followed by your chopped bird's eye chili.

Will be putting in the chopped thick part of the lemongrass. From here you could already smell the amazing scent of the flavors. Your neighbors would want to see what's cooking once smell the scent of the fusion of the ingredients.

Finally add in the leaves of the lemongrass making sure all the ingredients are mixed well. Getting out all those flavors to fuse with our mussels later on.

Time to drop in the fresh mussels stir accordingly and allow the juices to flow out. Keep the temperature of your heat to high.

Time for our pepper grinder to shine get in a couple of rounds of freshly ground pepper it there. Once you used freshly ground pepper there is no going back to the usual ground pepper.

Cover your pan and leave for a minute or two to ensure all the mussels are cooked well. You would notice that if all of the mussels have opened up completely.

Squeeze in half a lemon to add more flavor to your dish.

This should not take any more longer and we are almost done.

Now for our final touch sprinkle in the lemon zest. This will intensify the lemon flavor on our dish.

Pour in a glass of wine because we are ready to eat. As always can't help to take a couple of shots first before we enjoy our meal.

Bon appetit our dish for today stir fried sea mussels.

I would pour you a glass myself and offer you a plate but unfortunately we know is not possible. If you liked it. I hope you try the recipe yourself and remember in cooking there are no rules.

Answering the call by @rwedegis for #whatscookingchallenge by @jaynie

Tagging for the challenge

@koshin
@borrowedearth
@bozz
@mhel
@iamjadeline

Follow @surpassinggoogle to witness an extraordinary person in this platform and vote for @steemgigs as witness

Discovering exceptional content in the community follow @curie and vote as witness

To have a glimpse of awesome content from the Philippines check out @bayanihan

See unique culture from around the world and join the challenge thru #culturevulture by @eroche

All photos are original and taken with

Lumix GX85 Sigma 50mm 1.4 and 12-32 mm