Stir-Fry 'Sea Asparagus' & A Week Of Deprived Connectivity!

I lived through the whole of last week without a computer & the Internet. And what made it worse was that I wasn't on any extended holiday after my HK trip! Long story short...I had to make an unplanned trip to Kuala Lumpur to attend to some personal matters. I think I've read more copies of Reader's Digest in the last 1 week (to fill up the rest of my free time there) than I've ever did in my lifetime! It got me imagining living a life reversed back to the days of pre-Internet!! I wondered if the Internet did not exist in the first place, what would I be doing right now. I realized I'm unable to immediately think of an answer given how pervasive the Internet has permeated my life. I found myself missing my blog, my blog friends & their blogs, my Facebook, my email accounts, Google, Wikipedia and the whole universe of the online system! Ahhhh...how good it feels to be back at home & online!

Anyway, below is a really simple dish I cooked prior to my travel last week which I had no time to post it then. I've been keeping a can of imported Chilean sea asparagus (the seafood variety) in my pantry for the longest time and I was figuring out how & what to cook it with. So, I decided to prepare a simple, slightly spicy stir-fry with a variety of veggies. First of all, don't be confused by the name on the can if you happen to see it in the supermarkets (sorry, I've forgotten to take a picture of the can with its label). Although it was written 'sea asparagus' on the can label, it is not the plant variety which grows abundantly along salt marshes, beaches and mangroves. It is in fact, a variety of razor clams. In Malaysia, it is known as 'bamboo clams', and in Spanish, 'concha navaja' (watch this video to see a swimming clam). If you have not eaten it before, it has a mild & delicately chewy texture, and is delicious whether steamed with sauces or stir-fried. These clams live on the sandy seabed and they camouflage themselves against being preyed upon by digging & hiding in the sand. The best time to 'collect' these clams are during low tide season.

Here's the recipe:

Blend to a paste:
3 fresh chillies
4 shallots
2 pips garlic
2 candlenuts

1 can seafood 'sea asparagus'/razor clams
2 stalks celery
1 carrot
Snow pea
Cauliflower florets
2-3 tbsp cooking oil
Salt to taste

Heat the cooking oil in a wok/pan and saute the blended paste till fragrant. Mix in the clams and stir fry under high heat for about 40 seconds. Add in all the vegetables, salt to taste and stir fry for 3 minutes. Cover with a lid for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and serve with rice.

Cheers,