Clam | Chippi Soup in Indian Style | A Super Food to boost Vitamin B12

You name any good mineral that you studied at high school Chemistry lab, all of them are available in this one super food, Clam. Yes, I am not exaggerating. In the earlier days, I have seen these clams in sea side and shores, never gave it damn importance at that time.

Only when I started looking for healthy foods, I realized that this Clam tops the list. Yeah, it has got almost all vitamins like Vitamin A, B, C, D and minerals like iron, calcium, phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Selenium and Magnesium. It is rich in Vitamin B12 and Omega-3 fatty acids.

One meal with clam will boost an adult’s Vitamin B12 content. The bonus happy news is that, it is low fat and high protein sea food. I have fallen in love with this super rich food. You can expect more recipes with Clam here.

Is there any caution to be taken about this food?

Yes, there are some things you should keep in mind about clams.

1. It belongs to shell fish family. Yeah, you got it right. If you are allergic to shell fish varieties, you need to be cautious.
   • May be you can try a very small quantity and see if it suits for your body. Even if you get any small allergy, then you should stay away.
   • Not all shell fish make allergy for a single person and not all the time. In my own experience, I can say that I was allergic to some squid variety and get swelling in lips and face within an hour of consuming it. But I don’t get any allergy with other seafood.
   • One of my friend’s mom was allergic to shrimps, only sometimes. Note, not all the times she eats, only few times. So, it purely depends on individual and occasion. Anyhow, I wanted you to be aware of this fact.
2. Sourcing clams. Yeah, you need to be mindful while buying clams.
   • Clams from contaminated water might be harmful. So, we need to buy from trusted shops or fisher men, and be sure that these are taken from good water source or sea.
   • Clams easily get infected with contaminated water and pass on the same infection to human if consumed.
3. Buy them alive. How do we know if its dead or alive. If its dead, it will open up automatically. When it is alive, even its open, if you tap it, it will close by itself. This is how you can check and buy. Why do we need to buy it alive? It starts to get decomposed fast when its dead. So, be sure you are eating healthy one.
4. After you buy, don’t give it a shock by changing the atmosphere temperature drastically, it might die. You want it to die only when you cook. So, maintain the temperature. You can just put in the normal water and it will survive until you cook. Even for a day or two.

How to clean Clams?

1. Wash it with water for 5 to 6 times. There will be sands in it. It will get washed out.
2. Put the clams in clean water for about 20 to 30 minutes. It will breath out all the sands in it and get it cleaned by itself.
3. Then boil it for about 15 minutes, it will open up when its cooked.
4. Remove the flesh from its shell.
5. In the inner pearl like flesh, there will be black waste in very small quantity. Remove it off.
6. Wash it once before cooking.
7. From 1 kg of Clam shells, you will get around 100g of meat to the maximum.

Now, the clam is ready for cooking after cleaning. Ahh.. It takes so much of time, right. But go through its benefits, you will forget all the tiredness of doing this.

Health Benefits of Clam:

1. Its been found that its got anti-cancer properties.
2. It promotes sexual health.
3. As its got Vitamin C and Iron combination, it helps cure anemia, improves collagen production which helps for your skin health.
4. It has Vitamin B12 in plenty. 100g intake of clams will give you more than 800% recommended dose of Vitamin B12. Thus helps in red blood cells production, protein synthesis, maintain DNA health.
5. Vitamin B12 helps treat memory loss, slowing down aging, boosts mood and energy level. When Vitamin B12 is lower, you might feel tired all the time, get dizziness and kind of neurological disturbances. This super food helps you to overcome Vitamin B12 deficiancy.
6. Its high potassium helps people to manage high blood pressure.
7. Clams got loads of protein too. Its required for the growing kids, teens and people who do work outs.
8. Vitamin B2 available in it improves brain health. Migraine and head ache that comes due to Vitamin B2 deficiency can be cured by eating clams.
9. Bonus is, it has low calories and tastes so good.

Now you get why clams top in tasty healthy days… The best tasty food for you to live healthy life. Isn’t it??

Clam soup recipe

Lets move on to Clam Soup Recipe.

Required Ingredients:

Oil – 1tsp
Mustard Urad dal – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – few
Garlic – 4 cloves
Small onion / Shallots – 5 to 6 chopped finely
Ginger garlic paste – 1/2 tsp
Clam meat – 50g to 100g
Clam boiled broth – 1/2 cup
Tomato – 1 finely chopped
Coriander powder – 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder – 1/4 tsp
Pepper powder – 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder – 1/4 tsp
Coconut -1/4 cup, cut into small pieces

Salt is not required, as clam is salty naturally. So, you need to check and add at the end, if required.

• After boiling the clams, retain the boiled water for soup.
• Filter this clams boiled water as you might still expect little sand how much ever you wash.
• Heat the kadai and add oil.
• Add mustard urad dal, curry leaves, garlic and fry for a minute.
• Add chopped onions and saute until onion is fried well.
• Add turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste, clam meat and fry for few minutes.
• Add chopped tomatoes and saute for couple of minutes.
• Add coriander powder, red chilli powder and fry.
• Add clam boiled broth, pepper powder and cumin powder.
• Let it boil for 5 minutes in low flame.
• Prepare coconut milk by grinding coconut pieces along with some water.
• Add coconut water for about 1/2 cup.
• Once it comes to boil, turn off the heat.
• Serve hot and enjoy.

Stepwise pictures:

1. Wash for 5 to 6 times, and leave it in water for about 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Now boil the clams with some water and turn off once its cooked / opened up.
   
3. Take clam meat from each shell and remove the black waste from its flesh center.
4. After boiling the clams, retain the boiled water for soup.
5. Filter this clams boiled water as you might still expect little sand how much ever you wash.
   
6. Heat the kadai and add oil.
7. Add mustard urad dal, curry leaves, garlic and fry for a minute.
8. Add chopped onions and saute until onion is fried well.
   
9. Add turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste, clam meat and fry for few minutes.
10. Add chopped tomatoes and saute for couple of minutes.
    
11. Add coriander powder, red chilli powder and fry.
12. Add clam boiled broth, pepper powder and cumin powder.
    
13. Let it boil for 5 minutes in low flame.
14. Prepare coconut milk by grinding coconut pieces along with some water.
15. Add coconut water for about 1/2 cup.
    
16. Once it comes to boil, turn off the heat.
    
17. Serve hot and enjoy.
    

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