Slow Cooked Abalone - Recipe

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 6 hours 

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 Kg of Abalone in shell or 400g of Abalone meat
• 1 bunch of Chinese Broccoli, Choy Sum, Iceberg Lettuce or any Chinese green of choice
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 tablespoon of cornflour
• 1 tablespoon of Shiaoshing wine (or Sherry)

Directions

A. Preparing the Abalone

• If your Abalone (or Abs) came with shells intact, shuck the Abalone with a small sharp knife. Press the knife as close to the inside of the shell as possible so as to get the big muscle out intact, without leaving any meat on the shell.
• Remove the guts and innards from the Abs and discard.
• Using a small brush, clean the "lips" (outer circumference) and remove the layer of black lining.
• Wash the Abs thoroughly ensuring that all the black lining bits are removed prior to cooking.
• Place Abs in a Slow Cooker and add enough water to just submerge the Abs and put setting to High.
• After an hour, turn the setting to Auto, and cook for at least another 5 hours. If you want the Abs to be more tender, cook for another 2 hours. You do not need to add anymore water to the pot unless the Abs are no longer submerged.
• If you do not own a Slow Cooker, use a regular pot, bring to a boil and then cook under low heat for  5 hours. The broth should be just bubbling, and not boiling violently. Ensure you check every hour to see if there's enough liquid in the pot to cover the Abs. If not, add just enough water to cover the Abs. 
• Once cooking is completed, you may leave the Abs to stand and cool in the pot until you are ready to serve.

B.  Preparing the sauce and compliments

• Pour the liquid from your Abalone pot into a saucepan and reduce it to about 1/3 it's original volume and set aside.
• Cut the Chinese green into 6 cm lengths and wash thoroughly.
• Put a tablespoon of oil in a wok or pan, add the crushed garlic and gently fry till fragrant.
• Add the Abs sauce and bring to a boil.
• Mix 1 tablespoon of cornflour with a bit of water and add to the wok, stirring constantly to avoid lumps in the sauce. 
• Add Chinese green and stir fry for a minute.
• Add 1 tablespoon of Shiaoshing wine.
• Taste the sauce before adding salt if necessary. I always found the sauce to be tasty enough without adding any salt.

C. Preparing for service 

• The Abs can be served whole or sliced along the long-edge of the shellfish. 
• Fish out the Chinese green from the saucepan and place at the bottom of a large serving plate. 
• Assemble the Abs on top of the greens for a beautiful presentation.
• Pour the thickened sauce on top of the Abs.
• Serve immediately - yum!