Blood cockle or blood clam (Tegillarca granosa / Anadara granosa, Vietnamese: sò huyết) is a common seafood in Vietnamese cuisine. The cockle has its name because its blood is red (while other clams have transparent/white blood). In Vietnam, blood clams appear most in coastal regions from Phu Yen, Hue, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Ben Tre …. They are also farm-raised in some southern provinces. Blood cockles have high nutritional value, and are cooked into many dishes such as boiled blood coockles (sò huyết luộc), steamed blood cockles (sò huyết hấp), stir-fried beef with blood cocles (bò xào sò huyết), blood cockle porridge, and stir-fried blood cockles in tamarind sauce (sò huyết xào me).
In order to make this cockle stir fry dish, you can poach the clams first to stir-fry easier later, or stir-fry them as is to retain the umami flavor.
In a large pan, heat the oil and add minced garlic and chopped chillies to sauté. Then the cockles in and stir evenly until their meat looks shrink. Add the tamarind sauce, a little fish sauce, a little chili sauce if you like spicy food. Stir evenly until the tamarind sauce is reduced and pasty. If your cockles are not poached before stir-frying, you can check with a chopstick, if they open easily, they are cooked.