Amok Moules Marinière with Baguette

Method

1. Rinse the mussels in cold water, rubbing the shells together to clean them, and pull off the beards by tugging them towards the hinge. Throw away any with broken shells and any open ones that don't close when tapped: they are dead and unsafe. Keep them in the fridge under a damp cloth until cooking. Seed the dried chillies and soak them in hot water for 10 minutes.

2. Roughly chop the tender part of the lemongrass, the galangal, garlic and shallots and blend with the soaked chillies, turmeric and 2 tbsp water for 2 min into a smooth kroeung, stopping to scrape down the sides.

   Add in this stepLemongrass stalks 2Galangal (or ginger) 10 gGround turmeric 1 tspGarlic cloves 3Shallots 2Large mild dried red chillies 1

3. Melt the butter on medium heat in a wide 26 cm pot with a lid, add the kroeung and the torn lime leaves and fry for 3 min, stirring constantly so it doesn't catch, until the raw smell is gone and it smells rich and fragrant.

   Add in this stepButter 15 gMakrut lime leaves 3

   medium heat

4. Pour in the wine and boil on high heat, scraping the bottom, until the alcohol smell has gone; add the coconut milk, fish sauce and palm sugar and boil for 2 min more.

   Add in this stepDry white wine 100 mlCoconut milk 280 mlFish sauce 2 tspPalm sugar (or light brown sugar) 1 tsp

   high heat

5. Tip in the mussels, cover and cook on high heat for 5 min, holding the lid down and shaking the pot two or three times to move them around. They are done as soon as all the shells have opened; discard any that stay closed. Overcooking makes them rubbery.

   Add in this stepLive mussels in the shell 1,000 g

   high heat

6. Turn off the heat, squeeze in the lime juice and stir, then scatter over plenty of coriander. Serve with thick slices of baguette (toasted if you like) for dipping in the broth.

   Add in this stepLime ½Coriander (cilantro) 10 gBaguette ½