I think this style of cooking for lala (clams) is very popular among Malays. Most of the Malay food restaurants that have nasi campur will serve this for lunch – masak lemak cili api lala. I tried cooking this once and since Hubby was never fond of seafood, I thought next time when I feel like eating one I might as well buy the ready-cooked rather than waste my time pounding all the spices..heh!
Lala is also good when stir fried with sambal, or a simpler version with crushed lemongrass and cili padi. As with any other seafood, the rules to cook them is discard the opened clams before you cook, and discard the unopened cooked clams.
My favorite meal whenever I came to Times Square. It’s on food court there. 😀