#COOKING: ABALONE AND RAMEN RECIPE

Abalone and Ramen. One of the most sumptuous items you can have in Chinese Cuisine is Abalone. This nutritious shellfish, high in protein and Omega-3 is reserved for special celebrations and is on the pricier side. It has been dubbed “White Gold” for the amount of money it fetches. While it can be rather tricky to prepare as it can succumb to toughness if overcooked, fortunately, you can find amazing quality Abalone canned from places like China and Chile, which save you a lot of work. A good quality can of Abalone would be around $35 CAN for about six pieces (about $6-7 a piece). The trick is to prepare on low heat and at a short duration. Traditional Chinese Cuisine often contains different types of sun-dried seafoods and fungus, reconstituted and stewed. These earthy-woodsy umami flavours complement Abalone perfectly. Where do you get this stuff? Try Chinese Herbal/Health Food Shops as a starting point.

This dish is a celebratory one! Dishes like this run deep in tradition.

Ingredients:
6 pieces of canned Abalone, sauce reserved
4 cups chicken stock
6 or more stalks Baby Bok Choy, rinsed
4 or more individual portions of Ramen
10 Shiitake Mushrooms, soaked in water one hour, stems chopped
Handful Dried Cloud Ear Fungus, soaked in water one hour
Handful of Dried Fat Choy (Black Moss), soaked in water one hour
Handful of Dried Daylillies, soaked in water one hour and stems chopped
3-4 Dried Conpoy, soaked in warm water one hour
8-10 tbsps Oyster Sauce
2 tbsps Organic Raw Sugar
2 tbsps Shaoxing Cooking Wine
1 1″ knob of organic ginger, minced
1 stalk green onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 tbsps Tapioca/Corn Starch

Sea salt to taste
Vegetable Oil

Instructions:

1.Sautée green onion, ginger and garlic in oil. Add wine and oyster sauce and cook till it bubbles. Remove from heat.
2. With Slow Cooker on high heat, cook Conpoy, Shiitake, Daylillies, Fat Choy, Cloud Ear Fungus in Chicken Broth.
3. Add-in Oyster Sauce mixture from skillet and cook for 4 hours, reducing to low heat till pot boils.
4. Add-in reserved sauce from canned Abalone. Bring to boil.
5. Add Abalone pieces and simmer for half an hour.
6. In small bowl, mix starch and equal parts water, forming a slurry. Stir into the slow cooker mixture.
7. Allow sauce to thicken, stirring occasionally, keeping on low heat.
8. Prepare noodles and Bok Choy. Set aside.
9. Place noodles in bowl, top with Bok Choy, Abalone and stewed mixture, ladling sauce on-top.

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