When it comes to abalone, it is actually a really challenging ingredient if not dealt properly.
If you are given with a dried one, it will take hours and skill to find out when it is just nice, otherwise you will be like chewing on a rubber (not pun intended).
Hence it is actually to save time, will be easier to use the can version; and we so happened to have one when mom was cleaning up her room and we found a can that was blessed to our family during Lunar (Chinese) New Year.
Abalone can be really yummy if served with herbal seafood soup, but when you are landed with a pre-braised and sauced abalone, there's only one way to go - stew-ish style.
Stew as the sauce makes a great complement for the rice. Let's not waste it!
And just by making it a stew, it will not be perfect, everything requires balance in a Chinese dish, and for this dish, broccoli is the best choice, added with a bit of spring onion as garnish.
Usually in any Chinese weddings, this is a very popular dish; but because there are seniors with minimum molar left in their mouths, slicing the mushrooms thin is important for easy digestion. Especially for dried shiitake mushrooms
I actually have soaked it 3 hours prior with hot water, but because of the size, we got to really slice as thin as I can.
It goes the same with the abalone; however, these are already precooked so we are just going to slice it thin and set aside for the final step.
The Cooking
These mushrooms are gigantic and tough because they were very dehydrated for its shelf life. So boiling it for at least 5 minutes after soaking for hours is important.
For this dish, I have sautéed the old ginger slice and garlic for the aroma before adding the mushrooms in and some of its soaked water for a simmer for a couple of minutes before adding in the abalone brine stock from the can.
While the mushrooms are being boiled to increase tenderness, chopping up the broccoli into edible senior friendly size is equivalently important, and to speed up the cooking, soak it with hot water for a minute.
Once it is over 5 minutes of boiling, it is time to add a little more water (if it is too thick) and a little more flavouring.
I kid you not. Even though it is supposed to be tasty, but for preservation, salt is mainly used, hence to make it tastier, a little additional help like the oyster sauce and sweet soy sauce is needed.
If it is still tasting a little "unbalanced on the saltiness", a tiny bit of sugar can be added as well.
Because it is senior friendly, I have avoided rice wine and vinegar.
Once are boiled substantially another 10-15 minutes, broccoli can be added, and this is really the last part, to boil just for another 1 minute.
Final Step
Once it is ready, switch off the heat, and add in the abalone. Because they are already precooked and to avoid turning them into rubbery tough, this is added the last, stir it well and get ready for serving.
There you go, simple 1 dish that is suitable for rice or noodles.
A simple warm to the heart meal for the whole family
How about you?
Would you give this a try should you come across this can of abalone?
Until Then
Stay healthy, stay curious and learn new things, and stay happy!
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