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.
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!
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Dorrie
This recipe looks easy, and very tasty. Which kind of basil is needed, is it Bai Horapa?
Cheers, Dorrie
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Dorrie – please get Thai basil leaves.
Thip
I love Pad Ped Hoy Lai, Bee. I’ll have to find some of these clams and make it soon.
Rasa Malaysia
Awesome, I want to see your version and compare notes. ;)
Cynthia
Now your clam recipe I’d like to try.
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, hoy lai ped is great.
hcpen
nice clams:-) I love lalas and clams!!!
Rasa Malaysia
Me too, I looooove lala, clams, siput, mussels, oysters. Anything with shells and behalves, I looooove so much!
kl_changs
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.
Rasa Malaysia
It’s a secret island. Contact me and I can hook you up.
Pureglutton
Ohh… I love clams, cooked in any way! Yours look very yummy!
Rasa Malaysia
Correct, clams cooked in anyway is always great. So briny and sweet.
Christine
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.
Rasa Malaysia
Razor clams are great. You should try this recipe.
Marc
This chilli paste looks very spciy.
Rasa Malaysia
Marc, it’s alright, not too spicy. I love spicy foods.
mycookinghut
Ohh lala.. I love clams, thai food, and spicy ones espcially. This one, I will adore!
Rasa Malaysia
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. ;)
tummythoz
Oh I too would like to know where still have siput to dig for. So nostalgic.
Rasa Malaysia
Send me an email and I can hook you up. ;)
cariso
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
Rasa Malaysia
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.
judyC
what are siput? any English translation.
Rasa Malaysia
Siput is the Malay word for clams. :)
lisaiscooking
This sounds like a delicious way to prepare clams! Must try.
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, it is.
Dominique (de vous à moi...)
Love clams! thank you for your recipe. I live near the see.. why not a clam digging this weekend?
Rasa Malaysia
Dominique – you should totally go clam digging if you live near the sea. :)
food-4tots
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!!
Rasa Malaysia
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!
afhstingray
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.
Rasa Malaysia
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.
afhstingray
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.
Rasa Malaysia
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.
Bernice
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.
Rasa Malaysia
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.
Bernice
Fantastic!…i am going to do now. Hope to join the trip next year. Thank you.
Tuty
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 :-))
Rasa Malaysia
Well, I agree, sometimes it’s easier to just spend the money and skip all the hassle. ;)
My Taste Heaven
the clams look really good….and clam “hunting” sounds fun, maybe i should try them out someday!!!
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, you should try. I have many clams recipes in my archives too.
sharon
what is nam prik phao?
Rasa Malaysia
Shaoron – it’s Thai roasted chili paste.
Rasa Malaysia
Andy – I am glad you went to Penang. Fraser island – I will have to go dig clams there. ;)
rabeeya
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!
sapna
Hello, Rabeeya &Rasamalaysia, Thanks for taking the time to blog. where is this beautiful place? I am going to tour penang soon, I was wondering if I can get travelling pointers from you. I would love to go clam digging, please do let me in on your secret Island(sounds like a mystery movie..lol)Thanks for you time.
Rasa Malaysia
Sapna – please send an email to [email protected]. We offer private tour in Penang.
Ngoc
My favorite kind of meal – delicious and impressive, but so quick and easy! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Trangerine
Hi Rasa,
I recently made a clam (manila clams) dish (for the first time) and was very disappointed with the result. After a few minutes in the wok, the clams produced so much water and became salty, without the soy sauce or salt. I made clams with black bean sauce. Any idea why?
Thanks.
the big bang theory episodes
What an amazing post! I’ve been following your posts for quiet a while and I really find them interesting. Isn’t it funny when it seems to you that someone else on the planet thinks just like you? Yes, I have a somewhat thinking/writing style just like yours :-)
Suong roe
The recipe look delicious . I’m sure taste delicious . Thank you