Rapana – what is it and a description of the mollusk, habitat and step-by-step recipes for cooking dishes with photos

The content of the article

• What is a Rapana clam
• What does it look like
• Where dwells
• Beneficial features
• What vitamins and minerals are found in mollusks?
• Calorie content and nutritional value
• How to make rapans at home
• Mollusk cleaning
• Rapana recipe
• Fried with onions
• Rapana Salad
• Mussel shish kebab
• Rapana meat in a creamy sauce
• Pickled Sea Snails
• Rapana chop
• Julien with mushrooms and shellfish

Today, seafood dishes, including raps, are very popular. Few people know about the structural features of these mollusks, their habitats, and what they taste like. Like other seafood, the meat of this mollusk has a number of useful properties that have a beneficial effect on the human body. Prepare original and delicious rapan dishes, surprise guests and loved ones.

What is a Rapana clam

From biology, rapans are predatory gastropods of the needle family. This genus is an active predator, representatives of which feed on small bivalve mollusks, such as mussels and oysters. Rapana, or as they are also called sea snails, open their shells with the help of their muscular legs. Young individuals for this use their tongue-drill, covered with cloves, making holes in the shells and cracking down on victims in this way.

What does it look like

Rapana shell has a wide oval shape with a low curl, the last revolution is swollen, the color is grayish-brown, there are axial thickenings and spiral ribs. The length of the sink reaches 12-15 centimeters. Inside it is bright orange. There are several species of these mollusks, for example, a venous rape has a spherical short shell with a large curl. Depending on the habitat, the shells differ in diameter, for example, the Far Eastern sea snail reaches 180 mm, the Black Sea – 120 mm.

Where dwells

Sea snails live at a depth of 45 meters. They are attached to the rocks or simply lie at the bottom. They move with the help of the muscular leg. Mollusks are widespread in the waters of the Pacific and Indian Ocean. In 1947, they were introduced into the Black Sea, which threatened the numbers of mussels, oysters, and other bivalve mollusks. Due to the disappearance of marine residents responsible for water filtration, the condition of the Black Sea has worsened.

You can control the population of rapans only with the help of starfish, as they feed on them. But the water in the Black Sea is not salty enough for a comfortable living starfish. In view of this, a massive catch of these marine pests began. Souvenirs began to be made from their shells; culinary specialists invented many dishes from the meat of this mollusk..

Beneficial features

Eating rapan meat benefits the human body at any age. Seafood has practically no contraindications, it is not recommended to eat it only if a person has individual intolerance. The meat of a sea snail contains easily digestible protein, which contains amino acids. In turn, amino acids are needed for the productive work of the brain, they help restore energy faster. Other beneficial properties of this mollusk are known:

• improves metabolism;
• normalizes kidney function;
• provides stable functioning of the nervous system;
• supports vision;
• increases the protective function of the body (immunity);
• positive effect on blood formation;
• supports the work of the cardiovascular system.

What vitamins and minerals are found in mollusks?

The composition of the meat of sea snails contains the following vitamins and minerals that support the body’s immune system, help fight diseases and viruses:

• vitamin A;
• vitamin PP;
• Vitamin E
• B vitamins;
• potassium;
• iron;
• sodium;
• magnesium:
• calcium;
• phosphorus;
• iodine.

Calorie content and nutritional value

The energy and nutritional value of rapeseed per 100 grams of product is presented in the table:

How to make rapans at home

To process and prepare raps is very simple at home. Fresh sea snails can be consumed without heat treatment. If you don’t like this delicacy, then cooking is the easiest way to make a rapan. Shellfish meat must be poured with cold water literally 1 cm from above. If there are a lot of them, then you can do without water, so they will be prepared in their own juice.

Bring the liquid to a boil, boil for literally 5 minutes. Purchased frozen sea snails are pre-thawed at room temperature, on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or in the microwave. After pour into a pan and cook after baking for 2 minutes. The smaller the clams, the faster they cook. You can also fry the meat of this seafood in a pan or bake in the oven.

It is worth noting that large carcasses are less rigid. It is important not to digest meat in order to maintain a delicate structure, as is the case with shrimp and other seafood. If you prepare the rapans, they will become “rubber”. To taste, their meat resembles squid. Before cooking, it is important to properly clean the clams, free from the shell. They can then be used to serve meals..

Mollusk cleaning

To properly clean the clams, follow the step-by-step algorithm with the photo:

1. If the rape is fresh (freshly removed from the ground and has not had time to hide deeply), it is very easy to remove it with your index finger or fork. Insert the tool between the “leg” and the wall of the sink and jerk out the contents.
2. Immediately remove the digestive tract (back).
3. It is easy to extract the contents of the shell after cooking, but in this case, the seafood will have to be cooked with the stomach, which will entail the release of an unpleasant odor.
4. To weaken the muscle, you can use the so-called “shock”. For this, the sink must be dipped in boiling water for a couple of minutes or put in the freezer for 1 hour.
5. Rinse the extracted carcass thoroughly under running water..
6. Separate the dark part (stomach), horn plate, scrape out the sole.
7. Rinse well again to remove sand completely..
8. In an effective way, pour meat with coarse salt, rub it well with your hands, then rinse.
9. If you use a sink for serving, make sure that it is washed well, without sand, otherwise it will harm the taste of the dish.

Rapana recipe

Delicious rapan dishes can be tasted in China and Japan, local cooks love to cook this clam. No less tasty and original dishes from sea snails are prepared on the territory of Russia and Ukraine. They are added to salads, stewed with vegetables, pickled in spices. If this is your first encounter with this type of shellfish, then strictly follow the step-by-step instructions for preparing a specific recipe, then your rapan dish will be perfect in appearance and taste.

Fried with onions

• Time: 30 minutes.
• Servings Per Container: 2 Persons.
• Calorie content: 97 kcal / 100 grams.
• Purpose: for appetizer, main.
• Cuisine: Mediterranean.
• Difficulty: Easy.

A simple recipe for fried sea snails with onions. This dish is prepared in just 30 minutes, this is a great option for a light dinner. You can serve the dish in a mollusk shell and garnish with parsley leaves, seafood meat goes well with herbs. Instead of onions, you can use a whole shallot, but do not chop shellfish. Such a dish will look spectacular in a plate.

Ingredients:

• rapana – 500 g;
• sunflower oil – 25 ml;
• onion – 2 pcs..

Cooking method:

1. Prepare the meat of sea snails, thaw at room temperature, if necessary.
2. Boil water, slightly salt.
3. Cook seafood only 2-3 minutes, depending on size.
4. Peel the onion, cut into half rings.
5. Grind seafood, cut each carcass into 4 parts.
6. Preheat the pan with sunflower oil, fry the onions until golden brown.
7. Add the meat of sea snails, fry all 10-15 minutes until cooked.

Rapana Salad

• Time: 30 minutes.
• Servings Per Container: 4 Persons.
• Calorie content: 81 kcal / 100 grams.
• Purpose: for appetizer, side dish.
• Cuisine: Mediterranean.
• Difficulty: Easy.

Dietary salad with sea snails is perfect for people who are watching their figure. It can become a full balanced dinner. In addition, this salad can be served as an original snack or side dish to the festive table. Greens can be used any, based on taste preferences, for example, parsley, dill, basil and so on.

Ingredients:

• rapana – 400 g;
• tomatoes – 200 g;
• olive oil – 40 ml;
• greens – 30 g;
• pitted olives – 8 pcs.;
• cucumbers – 2 pcs.;
• onion – 1 pc.;
• Bulgarian pepper – 1 pc..

Cooking method:

1. Fry the clam meat in a pan with olive oil for no more than 3 minutes, let cool.
2. Wash, Dry Vegetables.
3. Free-cut cucumbers, onions, sweet peppers, tomatoes.
4. Chop greens finely.
5. In a bowl with vegetables, send seafood, whole pitted olives, season with spices to taste, mix well and can be served.

Mussel shish kebab

• Time: 2 hours 30 minutes.
• Servings Per Container: 4 Persons.
• Calorie content: 79 kcal / 100 grams.
• Purpose: for appetizer, main.
• Cuisine: Mediterranean.
• Difficulty: Easy.

The original barbecue from clams is prepared on the grill, acquiring a characteristic taste and aroma. If it is not possible to cook this dish on the grill, then barbecue can be baked in the oven. For the marinade, lemon juice, herbs, in this case dill and parsley, mayonnaise are used. It is better to use home-made mayonnaise or replace it with sour cream, fat cream.

Ingredients:

• Rapana – 1 kg;
• mayonnaise – 100 g;
• greens – 100 g;
• Korean mixture – 40 g;
• garlic – 2 cloves;
• lemons – 2 pcs.;
• onion – 1 pc.;
• Bulgarian pepper – 1 pc..

Cooking method:

1. Defrost meat if necessary.
2. Cut each carcass into two halves, remove the digestive tract.
3. Rinse well under running water, transfer to a deep bowl.
4. Peel, chop the onion in half rings, chop the greens, chop the garlic, send everything to the seafood.
5. Add the Korean mixture, the juice of two lemons, salt, mayonnaise, mix and send to marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
6. Put meat on small skewers or wooden skewers, alternating with pieces of bell pepper.
7. Grill for 10-15 minutes, constantly turning.

Rapana meat in a creamy sauce

• Time: 35 minutes.
• Servings Per Container: 2 Persons.
• Calorie content: 176 kcal / 100 grams.
• Purpose: for appetizer, main.
• Cuisine: Mediterranean.
• Difficulty: Easy.

Seafood goes well with creamy tastes, and the meat of sea snails is no exception. The dish is very quickly prepared, does not require pickling and other preliminary processes. According to this recipe, 20% cream is used, you can take a dairy product with a different mass fraction of fat, this will only affect the final calorie content of the dish.

Ingredients:

• rapana – 300 g;
• cream – 100 ml;
• sunflower oil – 40 ml;
• onion – 1 pc.

Cooking method:

1. Cut seafood into medium sized pieces.
2. Peel the onion, cut into half rings.
3. Heat a frying pan with oil, pass onion in it for 3 minutes.
4. Then put the seafood, salt, pepper and fry for another 3 minutes.
5. Add cream, continue heat treatment for 3 minutes, stirring regularly.
6. Remove from heat, arrange on plates, pour meat abundantly with creamy sauce.
7. The finished dish can be decorated with fresh herbs, olives, lemon slices.

Pickled Sea Snails

• Time: 2 hours 30 minutes.
• Servings Per Container: 2 Persons.
• Calorie content: 67 kcal / 100 grams.
• Purpose: for appetizer, main.
• Cuisine: Mediterranean.
• Difficulty: Easy.

The meat of fresh sea snails can be eaten raw, like oysters, but few people will like this delicacy. Seafood is often pickled, they are very malleable to this method of processing. One of the best marinades for sea snails is a mixture of soy sauce with lemon juice and garlic. In addition, chopped onion is added to the composition of the marinade according to this recipe.

Ingredients:

• rapana – 500 g;
• soy sauce – 100 ml;
• garlic – 2 cloves;
• onion – 1 pc.;
• lemon – 1 pc.

Cooking method:

1. Peel, chop the onion into small cubes.
2. Cut the mollusk from the side of the stomach, cut the “proboscis” and remove the mucus with a knife.
3. Strip the leg from the dark part, rinse the carcass well under running water.
4. Cook in boiling slightly salty water for literally 3 minutes.
5. Allow the seafood to cool slightly, then cut into small pieces.
6. Combine chopped onion, soy sauce, chopped garlic in a bowl, squeeze the juice from the lemon.
7. Next, you need to marinate seafood, send them to the mixture and leave for 2 hours, after covering the bowl with cling film.

Rapana chop

• Time: 40 minutes.
• Servings Per Container: 6 Persons.
• Calorie content: 123 kcal / 100 grams.
• Purpose: for the main.
• Cuisine: Mediterranean.
• Difficulty: Easy.

At first glance, it might seem that a chop of a rapeseed is not a good idea. But, for this dish, carcasses of the maximum size are perfect, of which it is very convenient to make chops. Minimal carcasses are best left to marinate or fry. Chops turn out very tender, this dish can impress even the most fastidious guests.

Ingredients:

• rapana – 30 pcs.;
• soy sauce – 50 ml;
• flour – 50 g;
• sunflower oil – 40 ml
• ground black pepper – 2 g;
• eggs – 1 pc.;
• lemon – 1 pc.

Cooking method:

1. Prepare the meat of sea snails.
2. Cut each carcass in half, rinse well in water with lemon juice.
3. Lightly beat the seafood with a culinary hammer, like a regular chop.
4. Put in a bowl, pour the chops with soy sauce, let stand for 5 minutes.
5. For batter, beat one egg with black pepper.
6. Pour flour on a plate.
7. Preheat a pan with sunflower oil.
8. Roll the meat in flour, dip in the egg and send to the pan.
9. Fry one and a half minutes on each side.
10. Sprinkle the finished chops with plenty of lemon juice.

Julien with mushrooms and shellfish

• Time: 45 minutes.
• Servings Per Container: 4 Persons.
• Calorie content: 108 kcal / 100 grams.
• Purpose: for the main.
• Cuisine: Mediterranean.
• Difficulty: Easy.

Delicious julienne with mushrooms and meat of sea snails is served in portioned tins, it looks spectacular on both an ordinary and a festive table. According to this recipe, champignons are used, you can replace them with other fresh mushrooms, to your taste. Julienne is rubbed with hard cheese, in this case Parmesan. If this cheese was not at hand, it can be replaced with another hard variety.

Ingredients:

• rapana – 350 g;
• champignons – 200 g;
• sour cream – 150 g;
• hard cheese – 60 g;
• vitamin bunch – 50 g;
• sunflower oil – 20 ml;
• onion – 2 pcs.;
• Bulgarian pepper – ? PC.

Cooking method:

1. Rinse the seafood thoroughly, make sure there is no sand left in them..
2. Cut the muscular part in half.
3. Peel the onion, bell pepper, chop everything.
4. Rinse mushrooms, dry, cut into plates.
5. Preheat a pan with sunflower oil, fry seafood for 5 minutes.
6. Put the mushrooms, then the onion, after a couple of minutes add the bell pepper.
7. Fry the whole mixture for another 7 minutes.
8. After enter sour cream, salt, pepper, simmer over a fire until boiling sour cream.
9. Remove from heat, transfer to portioned tins (small pans for julienne), pour grated cheese on top and send to bake for 10 minutes to melt the cheese.
10. Garnish julienne with fresh herbs.