Baked Mussels - Japanese Style (Chem Chep Nuong)

I finally decided to make a video on how to make Baked Mussels. Every time my boyfriend and I would make this dish and bring it to parties, we'd get a lot of compliments and people asking how to make it. We came up with this dish after eating the baked mussels at a restaurant called Kirin. We liked them so much so we decided to recreate this dish at home. This dish is great as an appetizer if you want to bring them to parties or you can just gobble them up all by yourself! Video will be up soon :)

Update: Video will be delayed due to some video issues :/

Ingredients

• 1 box of mussels with shell (approx. 1.5 lb. or 24 oz, 25 in the box)
• 2 Tbsp Masago and some extra for top (red-orange fish eggs, you can get it at most Asian/Japanese supermarkets)
• 5 Tbsp Mayonnaise and 2 Tbsp extra for the top
• 1 tsp brown sugar (regular is fine if you don’t have brown)
• 1/3 cup chopped scallions/green onion for top (about 2-3 stalks)
• (optional) A tiny pinch of salt (the masago and mayo are already salty) 

Step 1

Let mussels thaw out, if necessary, and remove from shell. To clean shells soak in water with salt. Rinse mussels and squeeze out some of the excess water.

Step 2

Chop/Dice 4 or 5 mussels at a time into small pieces (not too small though) and place in a large bowl. If you have a food processor you may dice/chop the mussels in that, but be careful not to over chop/dice them.

*(During this time pour out the salted water that the shells are in and let them dry out)

Then squeeze out more excess water if necessary. Mix in the sugar, then salt, then masago fish eggs, then 5 Tbsp of Mayo. To test the saltiness of the mussels you may put a little bit in the microwave to cook and taste it.

Step 3

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare a baking tray lined with aluminum foil (easier clean up). Shells should be kind of dry before filling with the chopped mussels. When filling the shells make sure you don’t under or over stuff them. (See pic as reference). Put 2-3 Tbsp of Mayo in a squeeze bottle or a sandwich bag (corner snipped off) and squeeze the mayo on top in a line or squiggly line how ever you want it. Then sprinkle some masago fish eggs on top.

Step 4

Bake in oven at 375 degrees for about 13 minutes, then carefully take out the tray and sprinkle the chopped scallions on top of the mussels and continue baking for the 4-5 minutes. Be careful when doing the scallions… oven is very hot! After 5 minutes, turn off oven, take mussels out and let cool for a few minutes then you can plate them. Good luck and enjoy!