Clean the mussels:

Mussels bought in the supermarket are mostly free of sand and without the beard of the mussel. You do have to rinse them thoroughly and remove any impurities from the shell. Rinse the mussels in cold water. Mussels with a broken shell should be thrown away. If a shell is open more than 3mm, tap it on counter. The, the mussel should close again. If not, the mussel is probably dead and should be thrown away. 

Preparation:

Melt the butter into a big cooking pot. Peel the onions and chop finely. Clean the celery and cut the stems in pieces. Roast the onions and the celery in the butter. 

Chop the clove of garlic finely. Peel the ginger and chop finely. Crush the stem of lemongrass as hard as you can and add to the pot, along with the ginger and garlic. You can also add some spice by adding a spicy chili pepper. .

Add the mussels to the vegetables. Season with pepper. Pour the Vedett beer over the mussels en throw a few branches of thyme and some bay leaves in. 

Put the lid on the pot en let the mussels cook until all of them are open. Do not let them cook for too long: the less the mussels are open, the juicier. Rule of thumb I use: 2 minutes cooking, turn the mussels around in the pot, then another 2 minutes cooking. 

Finish off with grinds of half a lime or lemon and some coriander before serving.