ARIKADUKKA/STUFFED MUSSELS

Arikadukka is a perfect malabar snack,mostly famous amongst the muslim community.Myself and my whole family are hardcore fans of it. A big thanks to my bestieeeeeeeeeee who guided me throughout the  process.I believe without her this recipe would have been incomplete.The mussels being stuffed with rice flour which gets grinded up with fennel seeds and shallots gives and extra aroma to this snack.Always try to make this in large quantity,no one can eat just one.........As it was my first approach towards it,i just made a few.I bet all the food lovers if u happen to missout this recipe, its definetly gonna be a big big big miss.

1. Rice flour(pathiri podi)               1cup
2. Shallots                                     4nos
3. Coconut grated                         1tbspn
4. Fennel seeds                             1tspn
5. Mussels                                    7nos
6. Chilli powder                            11/2tbsp
7. Turmeric powder                      1/2tbsp
8. Fennel powder                          1tsp
9. Salt                                           as required
10. Hot Water                                1/2cup

Clean up each of the shells of the mussels on a cement floor to get rid of all dirt and threads and place these in freezer for a few hours.

Grind up coconut,fennel seeds and shallots in a mixer.To a large bowl add the rice flour,salt and grinded coconut ,shallot mix and knead them well to a dough with sufficient quantity of water.

Now take the mussels from the freezer, the shells would be slightly open. Try opening them slowly and remove if any dirt inside. 

Make small rolls from the rice dough and place them on the opened part of the mussels and remove the excess flour from sides.

Place this in a steamer/idli vessel for about 15_20mins.

Once cooled up take  them out from vessel and try removing the stuffed mussels from the shells or else you can fry  with the shells.
Now it's time for marination. In a small bowl mix in chilli powder,turmeric powder,fennel powder and salt with little water to a neither loose nor thick consistency.

Now take each stuffed mussels ,dip them in the masala and deep fry turning up on each sides.
Once they are done serve.

Note:

1.I had got the mussels lightly opened up by the vendor. So I had quit the step freezing them. Moreover he had cleared up the dirt partially which reduced my labour to 3/4th.

2. You may marinate the mussels and store in boxes for few days.