Vietnamese style lemon grass cockles

Lemongrass cockles prepared in the Vietnamese way

Inspiration for this next dish came from a Hanoi food experience one year

Visiting just before Christmas with my family, and my mate and his son from the UK, we explored Hanoi hard from a food perspective – no stone left unturned.

I had read about this place prior to the trip and was determined to go experience it. You should too. It's a local place just walking distance from our hotel. The great thing was that it was a series of food stations surrounding an open courtyard. Unlike Singaporean food courts, they had waiting staff taking your order – from 8 or so different stations. It was fantastic. One of the dishes was made with cockles.

That very dish gave me inspiration to create my own version.

So simple, but very impressive and really very tasty. You'll need for 4:

• A tray of cockles (or mussels, clams);
• 3 stalks of lemongrass, finely sliced;
• 3 garlic cloves, finely sliced;
• 2 chili padi, thinly sliced;
• Half a glass of white wine;
• 1 yam basket or serve with spaghetti.