Easy Mussel Curry

Jump to Recipe

This is without a doubt, the Best Mussel Curry you will try!  It is made quickly an easily with panty staple ingredients and turns out perfectly every single time.

Suitable for gluten free diets.

Tanzanian fish curry,_-8 | Recipes From A Pantry

One of my friends Ozoz previously travelled to Tanzania and kept us entertained with all her exploits and culinary experiences. I was utterly hooked on all the flavours and eats.

She kept on sharing Tanzanian curries and so when I was gifted some mussels. I decided to make a Mussel Curry dish.  

These fantastic curry mussels are cooked in a tomato sauce spiced with cloves, cardamom, coriander and ginger and enriched with some creamy coconut milk. Simply a delicious seafood coconut curry.

Love mussels then just imagine the rich flavor in this. You can easily add in different seafood like fish and prawns. And check out this Shrimp Creole or this easy Blackened Shrimp.

tanzanian seafood curry,_-24 | Recipes From A Pantry

Ingredient Notes

  • Oil – use vegetable or olive oil
  • Vegetables – this recipe calls for a combination of onion and bell pepper.
  • Seasoning – the flavors in here are from minced ginger, minced garlic, ground coriander, ground cumin, ground cardamom, ground turmeric, and red pepper flakes. Use more or less of the seasonings to your taste. Try and use as fresh seasoning as you can.
  • Tomatoes – you use use the best quality finely diced tomatoes you can find.
  • Stock – use some hot chicken broth but feel free to use vegetable broth too.
  • Coconut milk – get the creamiest ones you can find with the highest coconut content.
  • Mussels – make sure they are cleaned
  • Tamarind paste – to add sharpness. Use lime juice instead if you prefer.

How To Make Mussel Curry

Get complete ingredients list and instructions from the recipe card below.

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, pepper and cloves and saute for about 8 minutes until soft.
  2. Stir in the ginger, garlic and spices and fry for 30 seconds until fragrant.
  3. Then mix in the diced tomatoes, followed by the chicken broth, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
  4. Add coconut milk, bring to the boil, reduce heat add in the cleaned mussels, and simmer for about 6 minutes until all the mussels open.
  5. Add tamarind and salt to taste.
  6. Discard unopened mussels and serve the curry with rice and sprinkle chopped cilantro and lime wedges.

Recipe Tips

  • As always try and get hold of the best ingredient that you can. Make sure to get as fresh mussels as you can, coconut milk with a high percentage of coconut.
  • Also make sure to use really good thick tasty diced tomatoes for these coconut mussels.
Tanzanian fish curry,_-8 | Recipes From A Pantry

Delicious Variations

  • Add in you own home made curry powder. I love this Jamaican Curry Powder for a Caribbean version.
  • For a Thai mussels version use your favorite curry paste instead of seasonings. I love Thai red curry sauce and swap the tamarind for some fish sauce or lime juice and add in some basil leaves.
  • You can easily substitute in different protein like fish and shrimps.  
  • Want this spicy then add more red pepper flakes.

FAQs

Best Way To Clean Mussels

Place your mussels in a colander or bowl in the sink and run shells under cold water. Rinse them and use a scrubber to remove any debris and sand and seaweed from their shells.

How To Tell If The Are Good

Check when cleaning them. If they are open or if they smell then please get rid of them

Serving Suggestions

Feel free to serve this coconut curry mussels with some rice like Instant Pot Brown Rice, some crusty bread or a simple green salad.

For More Seafood Recipes

If you are interested in more seafood recipes then why not check out these below.

Tools Needed

Get The Mussels Curry RecipeSaveSave

Don’t forget to tag #recipesfromapantry on Instagram or Twitter if you try Tanzanian Style Mussel Curry! It is really, really awesome for me when you make one of my recipes and I’d love to see it. You can also share it on my Facebook page. Please pin this recipe to Pinterest too! Thank you for reading Recipes from a Pantry.

Tanzanian fish curry,_-8 | Recipes From A Pantry
Print Recipe
4.77 from 21 votes

Tanzanian Style Mussel Curry

In this Tanzanian seafood curry, mussels are cooked in a sauce spiced with cloves, cardamom and ginger and enriched with creamy coconut milk
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Main
Cuisine: African
Servings: 4
Calories: 450kcal
Author: Bintu Hardy

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion finely chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper finely chopped
  • 2 tsp minced ginger
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1.5 tsp ground coriander
  • 1.5 tsp ground cumin
  • 0.75 tsp cardamom
  • 0.25 tsp turmeric
  • 0.25 tsp dried chillies flakes
  • 1 2/3 cup finely diced tomatoes (400ml)
  • 1 2/3 cup hot chicken broth (400ml)
  • 1 2/3 cup coconut milk (400 ml)
  • 2 lb mussels, cleaned (900g)
  • Tamarind to taste or lime juice

To serve:

  • Freshly chopped coriander
  • Rice

Instructions

  • Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, pepper and cloves and fry for about 8 mins until soft.
  • Stir in the ginger, garlic and spices and fry for 30 secs until fragrant.
  • Then mix in the chopped tomatoes, followed by the chicken stock, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 mins.
  • Add in the coconut milk, bring to the boil, reduce heat add in the mussels, and simmer for about 6 mins until all the mussels are open.
  • Add tamarind and salt to taste.
  • Discard unopened mussels and serve the curry with rice and coriander.
**EASY AIR FRYER RECIPE EBOOK**Get the easy Air Fryer Recipe Binder which includes 40 quick and easy recipes all under 30 minutes cook time.
** INSTANT POT DUMP AND DASH RECIPE EBOOK**Get the Instant Pot Dump And Dash Recipes Ebook with easy recipes for busy lives.

Recommended Products

Nutrition

Calories: 450kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 669mg | Potassium: 1047mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1265IU | Vitamin C: 62.3mg | Calcium: 104mg | Iron: 10.4mg

Save

Save

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




205 Comments

  1. Hi there!

    Absolutely love this recipe and was hoping to make it again for my family next week, but I cannot see it on this web page and have tried looking for it elsewhere but can’t find it. Is there anyway to get the recipe!

    Thanks so much

    Sammi ☺️

  2. Hi Bintu! Very excited to discover your recipes! Especially the mussel curry, but I could not locate the actual recipe on your site. I’d clicked on the Pinterest post, which brought me to this: You are here: Home / Ingredients / Tanzanian Style Mussel Curry {GF}

    Please, if you can, send the recipe or provide a fresh link? Many thanks,

    Juudy

  3. 5 stars
    Your recipe is what I’d call a one, two punch. What flavors & ingredient combos. I’m going to try making with shrimp. Thanks.