Abalone Mee Sua Soup - Leftover from CNY!

It is almost 7 months past Chinese New Year and there are still leftovers. A can of abalone that would expire in a few months time. It need not always be a special occasion to cook and eat good food, once in a while. However, my appetite still isn't back and have no wish to eat meat. Mee Sua will be a good choice for me as it can be easily digested, while the slices of abalone will be for family.

As it was my first time making this dish, I had to use lots of imagination to think of the ingredients and different combination of tastes. So I spent about 2 hours just preparing the ingredients and cooking them. It turned out really delicious! (I wasn't supposed to use the brine in the can to cook the soup gravy but I still did, just a little to get the abalone taste. It can be substituted by abalone sauce sold off supermarket shelves but won't be as good. It won't be a bowl of abalone noodles without abalone soup.)

A Bowl of Satisfaction

Ingredients for the Sweet Abalone Gravy Dish

Abalone Mee Sua (Serves 2 - 3)

Main Ingredients

2 - 3 bunches Mee Sua (blanched in hot water for 1 minute)

1 Canned Abalone (remove and set aside soft jelly parts, slice main flesh thinly)

100 gm Black Pearl Mushrooms / Golden Mushrooms (separate heads and stems as per picture)

1 big Luffa (slice off hard skin, cut skinless luffa into 1cm thick circles)

Side Ingredients

1 Tbsps Dried Ikan Bilis (washed and dried)

1/2 Tbsp Dried Scallops (washed and soaked)

1/2 Tbsp Sliced Ginger

1/2 chinabowl of Brine (from canned abalone)

Seasoning Condiments

A few dash of Ground White Pepper

1 Tbsp Potato or Corn Starch (mixed in 2 tbsps water)

Frying Condiment

1/2 Tbsp Grapeseed Oil

Steps

1. Heat Oil in Wok using medium heat

2. Stir fry Ginger, Ikan Bilis, Scallops, soft jelly abalone parts in wok till fragrant for 3 minutes

3. Remove ingredients from wok and set aside in a bowl/plate

4. Add sliced Luffa into wok to stir fry for 1 minute, pour in Brine, cover and simmer for 3 minutes

5. Drain and remove cooked Luffa from wok and set aside in a bowl/plate

6. Re-add ingredients from Step 2 back into wok filled with remaining brine

7. Add in Black Pearl Mushrooms (Stems part) and 4 chinabowls of Water

8. Stir, cover wok, and boil for 3 minutes using medium-high heat

9. Transfer everything into a claypot, cover claypot and simmer for another 20 minutes

10. Drain ingredients out of claypot, retaining the soup inside claypot

11. Add Black Pearl Mushrooms (Heads part), cover claypot and simmer for 15 minutes

12. Add Ground White Pepper and Potato Starch, stir to mix well till soup thickens into gravy 

13. Finally add in blanched Mee Sua to cook for 20 seconds

14. Serve everything from the claypot into bowls, top with cooked Luffa and Abalone slices

15 Happy CNY, 7 months in advance! :D