One early morning in January when I was home in Penang, my brother, sister, nephew, our maid and I set off to a clam-digging expedition in a little island off the coast of Penang. In less than two hours, we dug two buckets full of big, fat, and succulent fresh clams, after we got both our hands and feet wet, not to mention some mud on my sister’s hair. It was one of the most exciting, fun-filled, and fruitful excursions nonetheless. We had so much fun!
As soon as we went home, my brother cooked up a big batch of hoy lai ped, or fried clams with roasted chili paste, a Thai recipe that he had learned from his Thai friend. Our family and all the kids gathered together and savored the bounty with great victory–nothing tastes quite as good as food caught with our own hands…(get Hoy Lai Ped recipe after the jump)
Hoy lai ped literally means spicy clams in Thai. It’s a popular clam recipe in Thailand. Thailand is blessed with abundant seafood and clams are hugely popular. Hoy lai ped is very easy to prepare and you need only a few key ingredients: Thai roasted chili paste or “nam prik pao,” fresh basil leaves, and bird’s eye chilies. It has become one of my favorite clam recipes because of its vibrant flavors: fiery hot and exuberantly briny with a robust minty note from the basil leaves.
Now back in the US, I often make hoy lai ped. While there is no clam digging, I can always get fresh Manila clams from Asian supermarkets. My brother’s friend also bought me a big tin of nam prik pao (Thai roasted chili paste) which is now an essential ingredient in my cooking repertoire.
Here is my recipe for hoy lai ped or spicy clams in Thai roasted chili paste. Try it out, it’s seriously delicious!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pound clams
2 tablespoons nam prik phao
2 oz Thai basil (remove stems, just use the leaves)
6 bird’s eye chilies (lightly pounded)
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon sugar or to taste
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce (optional or to taste)
3 tablespoons oil
Method:
Clean and rinse the clams well, scrubbing the surface. Set aside.
Heat wok over high heat and add oil. Stir-fry the garlic until aromatic, then add nam prik phao and bird’s eye chilies. Continue stirring for 1 minute and add clams into the wok. Stir-fry until the clams open, then add Thai basil leaves, fish sauce and sugar to taste. Do a few quick stirs, dish out and serve immediately with steamed white rice.
Cook’s Notes:
- You can get nam prik pao from Asian supermarkets or online here. If you wanted to make it from scratch, please click here for Pim’s secret recipe.
- If you are in Penang and wish to go on a clam digging excursion, please contact me.
Related Posts:
- Tom Kha Gai Recipe (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup)
- Thai Curry
- Linguine alle Vongole (Linguine with Clams)
- Thai Fish Cake (Tod Mun Pla) Recipe
- Pad Thai Recipe from The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook
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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
This recipe looks easy, and very tasty. Which kind of basil is needed, is it Bai Horapa?
Cheers, Dorrie
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Hi Dorrie – please get Thai basil leaves.
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I love Pad Ped Hoy Lai, Bee. I’ll have to find some of these clams and make it soon.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Awesome, I want to see your version and compare notes. ;)
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Now your clam recipe I’d like to try.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, hoy lai ped is great.
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nice clams:-) I love lalas and clams!!!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Me too, I looooove lala, clams, siput, mussels, oysters. Anything with shells and behalves, I looooove so much!
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Another blast from the past, Bee!
I remember we used to “korek siput” (said with Pg Hokkien twang, of course) at Gurney Drive and other beaches, when I was a wee girl. Longggg time ago. Sigh.
The glee of finding the siput was sheer joy. Which island is this? Will bring my boys there when we return home for holidays.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
It’s a secret island. Contact me and I can hook you up.
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Ohh… I love clams, cooked in any way! Yours look very yummy!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Correct, clams cooked in anyway is always great. So briny and sweet.
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Yum! After my recent crab fest I wouldn’t mind a change to lala clams! But I think we can get razor clams which may not be the same thing. Vongole I know we can get sometimes, but frozen.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Razor clams are great. You should try this recipe.
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This chilli paste looks very spciy.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Marc, it’s alright, not too spicy. I love spicy foods.
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Ohh lala.. I love clams, thai food, and spicy ones espcially. This one, I will adore!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
This is what we call kepah in Penang. Lala is the tiny ones. But either way, lala or kepah are all so good. I love them all. ;)
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Oh I too would like to know where still have siput to dig for. So nostalgic.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Send me an email and I can hook you up. ;)
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I’ve been hung up on a favorite recipe for eating clams, and the one you provide here, might be just the one I need to venture beyond the familiar. Thanks for sharing.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, you should try. I have many clams recipes in my archives too.
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I love to liak kappa (clam digging) too!!!! I went to the Gertak Sanggul one.
http://cariso-food.blogspot.com/2008/05/original-kappa-taste.html
http://cariso.blogspot.com/2008/05/liak-kappa-trip.html
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Cariso – yes, I love love love to liak kappa too, and or siput, so much fun. My brother told me behind Northam Cafe, you can find a lot of siput.
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This sounds like a delicious way to prepare clams! Must try.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, it is.
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Love clams! thank you for your recipe. I live near the see.. why not a clam digging this weekend?
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Dominique – you should totally go clam digging if you live near the sea. :)
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Your clam-digging expedition reminds me of our childhood “picnic” session at Tanjung Bungah beach. I miss it so much! Looking at this mouth-watering dish, I am sure it tastes fantastic with the chili paste. Extra kick! Yummy!!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, you are right. When I was little, my parents took me to Tanjung Bungah to “or siput” too. In fact, well into my high schools days, I would still go there to dig clams. Whenever I found one from the sands, I was soooooo happy!
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this post makes me feel really miserable. i grew up in johore bahru, my house is next to the beach, just a 20 min walk from the causeway to singapore. the sea used to be abundant with blue swimmer crabs, mussels, and clams.
now the crabs are rare, the mussels and clams cant be eaten due to e.coli concerns. even the seabirds have changed after danga bay was built, destroying the marshland.
it saddens and disgusts me. one ray of hope was the new bridge to singapore, which would allow the water to circulate hopefully reducing the pollution. sigh. wish i could do something about it.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, I remember the beach in JB had a lot of mussels called “tua tao.” My grand-uncle and his family lived there, and I was always so happy to go to JB as we could buy the “tua tao” at the beach there, and then cooked at home. Never tried digging them though. I hope your wish will come true and it will be back to the old days.
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afhstingray replied:
oh i dint know they were called that. well, at least some places in malaysia remain relatively pristine. where one can still dig up clams and catch fish/crabs.
back in the early 90’s you could literally fill up a 10kg sack with blue swimmer crabs in just one evening’s work. there was a patch of beach near the lorry customs entrance where u could see lots of the crabs darting around underwater, there were that many of them!
a real shame about the johore coast, with all the marshland they destroyed.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Tell me about it. The beaches in Penang are so polluted and dirty. It wasn’t like that when I was little. The sea water was blue but now it’s mostly yellowish and brownish. So sad.
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Mmmmmmm…yumyum! LEKKER ( in Dutch ) which means delicious , going to try this but dont think i can buy this kind of clam over here. I was born in Sungai Petani . Which island off the coast of Penang you had your clam-digging expedition? Would like to try this myself next January.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Bernice, send me an email using the Email link on top of this site. We can organize a tour for you to go on this clam expedition.
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Bernice replied:
Fantastic!…i am going to do now. Hope to join the trip next year. Thank you.
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Lucky you that you did this while in Penang…If you try to dig anything along the US Pacific coast… first, we have to be concerned about the “health” risk due to contamination… second, we need to get a “license” (i.e. pay the Dept of Fish & Game)… third, they have limits on how much we can dig (which probably amounts to a couple of handfuls).
Bottom line, it seems to be easier to go to the local Asian supermarket and buy live clams :-))
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Well, I agree, sometimes it’s easier to just spend the money and skip all the hassle. ;)
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the clams look really good….and clam “hunting” sounds fun, maybe i should try them out someday!!!
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what is nam prik phao?
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Shaoron – it’s Thai roasted chili paste.
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Wow. I love clams but they taste so much better if you’ve found them yourself!
Last time I dug up my own clams was on Fraser Island in Australia – we cooked them there with sweet chilli sauce and white wine – very random but an amazing experience.
Funnily enough was in Penang just last week on my honeymoon. It’s a great place – in particular the food!!!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Andy – I am glad you went to Penang. Fraser island – I will have to go dig clams there. ;)
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hi… this recipes looks delicious. unfortunately we dont really get Clams in Pakistan except the frozen clam meat, which is not that great.
I was wondering, what if i substitute the clams with shrimps? would they not go well with this roasted chilli paste?
wud love ur opinion on this. thanks!
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My favorite kind of meal – delicious and impressive, but so quick and easy! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
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