🦪 Midye tava (fried mussels)

Name: Midye tava (fried mussels)
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Turkey · Istanbul
Ingredients: 500 g shelled mussels, cleaned and patted dry; 120 g plain flour; 180 ml cold sparkling water; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp ground black pepper; Vegetable oil for deep-frying; 1 lemon, cut into wedges; Chopped parsley to serve

Origin: Turkey · Istanbul

420kcal

per serving · 200 g

210kcal

per 100 g

20 gProtein10 g / 100 g

24 gFat12 g / 100 g

30 gCarbs15 g / 100 g

Midye tava is a Turkish street snack of shelled mussels dipped in a light flour batter and deep-fried until crisp. The coating shatters while the mussels inside stay soft and briny. It is sold threaded on wooden skewers or piled in paper cones by vendors along the Bosphorus and is eaten hot with lemon and a garlicky dipping sauce.

Diets

✓

No pork

✓

Dairy-freeno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

Not vegetarianbecause of: mussels

Not veganbecause of: mussels

Contains glutenbecause of: flour

Not keto15 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Crustaceans ⚠ Tree nuts ⚠ Molluscs

What it is made of

musselsflouroil

Recipe

4 servings35 min

Ingredients

500 g shelled mussels, cleaned and patted dry
120 g plain flour
180 ml cold sparkling water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Chopped parsley to serve

Method

Whisk the flour, salt and pepper with the cold sparkling water into a smooth batter about as thick as pancake batter.
Heat the oil in a deep pan to 180 °C.
Dust the mussels lightly with flour, then dip them in the batter, letting the excess drip off.
Fry in small batches for 2–3 minutes until golden and crisp, then drain on paper towels.
Thread onto skewers if you like, scatter with parsley and serve at once with lemon wedges.

How to make it lighter

Deep-frying makes the batter soak up oil — a small cone of 6–8 mussels is a snack-sized portion.
Drain the mussels well on paper towels and serve with lemon instead of a rich sauce.
Pair them with a large tomato, cucumber and onion salad rather than bread.

History

Fried mussels are a classic Istanbul street food, made with mussels from the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. Today they are sold at fish markets and seaside stands along Turkey's Marmara and Aegean coasts.

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Similar dishes

Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →