Hoi Lai Pad Nam Prik Pao (Clams fried in roasted chilli paste)

I’ve been wanting to make this for ages but despite living on an island, we don’t always have access to great seafood here in the UK, much of it being exported or used in the restaurant trade. However, Booths (which is a top end northern England family supermarket chain) sells fantastic, fresh food, including shellfish so as a treat I collected my pre-ordered clams (and was given a free extra handful- ‘just in case’) which came to just over £8 and would have comfortably served 3 people and toddled off home to make this for tea.

With reference to Thailand, shellfish is not overly expensive and for those living nearer the coast, it is everyday food. It was also the first time I got to use one of my new ingredients- Nam Prik Pao, which is a roasted chilli paste and contains (along with chillies) tamarind, shrimp paste and a host of other ingredients. So overall, I make no apologies- this one isn’t an easy substitution dish as it contains quite a few specialist Thai ingredients.

For two people use:

• 500g of very fresh clams (or mussels), cleaned and dead ones (they don’t close when squeezed) thrown away


• a tablespoon of nam prik pao (roasted chilli paste)


• 4 or 5 red Thai chillies, sliced


• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine


• a small splash of fish sauce (nam pla)


• a small splash of oyster sauce


• a small splash of water


• a handful of sweet Thai basil (bai horapa)


• a pinch of sugar


• vegetable oil for frying

Heat the oil in a wok and when hot, throw in the garlic. Stir fry it for a few seconds before adding in the roasted chilli paste. Give this a good fry for about 30 seconds before adding the chillies, sugar and all the sauces/ water. Throw in the cleaned clams and stir fry. Ideally- find a lid or kitchen implement that can cover the wok so the clams begin to steam, Keep frying and gently shaking the clams in the sauce for about ¾ minutes- they should all now be open. For the last few seconds, toss through the Thai sweet basil and serve alongside rice. 

Note- if any clams have failed to fully open, throw them out- they may have been dead before cooking began.