A weekend afternoon enjoying some snails is really wonderful, isn’t it? Let’s get into the kitchen with TasteVN to prepare apple snails into a delicious stir-fried dish in two extremely simple, easy ways: stir-fried with garlic butter and stir-fried with lemongrass and chili to treat the whole family!
1. Stir-fried apple snails with garlic butter
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Preparation
10 minutes
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Cooking
30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Stir-fried apple snails with garlic butter For 4 people
Apple snails 1 kg Lemongrass 2 stalks (crushed) Minced garlic 3 teaspoons Minced chili 1 teaspoon Bird’s eye chili 4 pieces Vegetable butter 4 tablespoons Fish sauce 1 tablespoon Cooking oil 2 tablespoons Salt/sugar a little
How to choose fresh, delicious apple snails
- Choose large, fresh snails; when you touch the mouth of the snail, live and fresh snails will retract their mantle and close their mouth. Snails that smell bad, have their mantle retracted deep inside, and ooze slime are dead or old snails.
- Look at the snail’s mantle; snails with mantles close to the outer edge are fat and plump, while skinny snails have their mantles retracted.
- Pay attention to the smell; fresh snails have a fishy and muddy smell but are not unpleasant, while dead snails have a very unpleasant smell, different from the smell of mud; you need to be cautious to buy delicious snails.
How to prepare Garlic Butter Stir-Fried Snails
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Prepare the snails
After purchasing, wash the snails thoroughly with water. Soak the snails in cold water with 4 chopped chili peppers for 2 – 3 hours to remove dirt; the snails will expel some sand and mud. Then rinse again with cold water and let them drain.
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Boil the snails
Place a pot on the stove, bring about 1.5 liters of water to a boil with 1 teaspoon of salt. When the water boils, slowly drop in the snails to blanch, adding smashed lemongrass to eliminate the fishy smell.
Boil for about 3 – 4 minutes, then remove the snails and let them drain.
Note:- According to folk experience, when boiling snails, do not open the lid or stir the snails until the water is boiling; doing so will cause the snails to burst and become unappetizing.
- Only blanch, do not over-boil, as the snails will shrivel and also become unappetizing.
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Sautéed Snails
Put a pan on the stove, turn on medium heat, and add 2 – 3 tablespoons of cooking oil to heat. When the oil is bubbling, add all the minced garlic and chopped chili into the pan and sauté until fragrant.
When the garlic is fragrant (not yet golden), add the snails and stir-fry. At this point, increase the heat and stir quickly to ensure the garlic coats all the snails, cooking over high heat so the snails don’t release water.
Season with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt for the snails to absorb flavor, continuing to stir well for the snails to soak in the seasoning. Depending on your family’s taste, you can adjust the seasoning to your liking. Lower the heat to prevent the garlic from burning!
Tip: Do not let the garlic turn too golden because you will still be stir-frying the snails with the seasoning; if the garlic is too golden, it will burn and become bitter after cooking.Next, add 4 tablespoons of butter to the pan with the snails, quickly stir to ensure each snail is evenly coated with seasoning. Stir until you notice the butter starts to dry a little, then turn off the heat and remove the pan.
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Final Product
Serve the sautéed snails with garlic butter on a plate. This delicious sweet snail dish will be even more flavorful when dipped with green chili salt, pepper lime, or sweet and sour fish sauce.
2. Sautéed Snails with Lemongrass and Chili
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Preparation
10 minutes
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Cooking
20 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Stir-fried Sea Snails with Lemongrass and Chili Serves 3
Sea snails 500 gr Bird’s eye chili 4 pieces (sliced) Lemongrass 2 stalks (crushed) Butter 10 gr Seasoning sauce 1 tablespoon Fish sauce 1 tablespoon Oyster sauce 1/2 tablespoon Sugar/ monosodium glutamate a little
Ingredients for preparation
How to cook Stir-fried Sea Snails with Lemongrass and Chili
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Prepare the snails
After buying the sea snails, wash them thoroughly with water. Soak the sea snails in cold water with 2 small chopped chilies for 2 – 3 hours to clean them, allowing the snails to expel some sand and dirt, then rinse with cold water and drain.
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Marinate the snails
You just need to marinate the snails with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of seasoning sauce, and a little monosodium glutamate, stirring well to coat the snails with the seasoning. Marinate the snails for 15 minutes to absorb the flavors.
Tip: If you don’t have seasoning sauce, you can marinate with 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and 1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce.
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Sautéed Snails
Place the pan on the stove, turn on medium heat, heat the pan and add butter, let the butter melt, then add smashed lemongrass and sliced chili to sauté until fragrant.
After that, add the snails to the pan and stir evenly over low heat for about 5 – 10 minutes until the snails are cooked, then turn off the heat.
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Final Product
Sautéed snails with lemongrass and chili are delicious with the crunchy sweetness of the snails, the fragrant aroma of lemongrass, and the spiciness of the chili, dipped in salt and pepper with lime, sweet and sour fish sauce, or green chili salt is truly wonderful, isn’t it!
Clean preparation tips for freshwater snails
- A common characteristic of all types of snails is that they will open their mouths to expel mud if they detect a metallic smell. Therefore, you should soak the snails in a stainless steel basin or add metal items such as knife, spoon, fork, chopsticks for about 2 – 3 hours, and the snails will release all the mud.
- Besides metal, a simple way to clean snails is by using rice water. You put the snails in a basin, pour rice water to cover the snails and soak for 2 – 3 hours, and the snails will automatically expel all the mud and slime. After that, rinse the snails with clean water.
- A simpler and more effective method is to mix spices including lemon (or sour vinegar), chili powder, salt with water and soak the snails for 2 – 3 hours. The above spices help to quickly remove the slime and dirt attached to the snails without taking much time.
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With 2 really simple and easy-to-follow recipes, stir-fried freshwater snail with garlic and stir-fried freshwater snail with lemongrass and chili are very delicious. What are you waiting for? Try cooking them right away.
