Abalone with Dried Scallops and Mushrooms atop Snow Pea Tendrils

Hello again all! Hope everyone is doing well. I know, I know, this isn’t abalone. I promise, that will come very shortly right after I poof up my chest, strut proud, and show off my weekend’s baking skills. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to brag. If you know me outside of the blogosphere, or if you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know I SUCK at baking. So whenever I attempt to bake something and it does turn out right, I need to soak up all the glory. This a wonderful, simple (cause I only do simple when it comes to baking) vegan recipe that I got from Stella’s blog @ The Witchy Kitchen. I present to you Vegan Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Tart.

As usual, her picture looks 20 times better, but this was heaven in my mouth, I kid you not! I had two pieces (couldn’t stop at just one), K and L both shared a big piece, and the hubby had two bites. Now that’s actually saying a lot cause he’s not a sweets kind of person. He’ll either not have any at all or just have one bite, but two bites, that’s when I strut proud . Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I used almond butter instead of peanut butter as I’m allergic. Now some of you may be wondering, if you suck at baking then why do you still do it? All for this adorable face here. I may suck at baking but I don’t want to deprive my children of the fun in baking, so I try, I try VERY hard .

One of my friends actually said to me, “It’s ok LeeQs, where you suck at baking, you make up for it in your cooking.” Hmmm….I’ll take that as a compliment? Anyways, let’s not concentrate too much on how much I SUCK at baking and let me steer you towards my brighter side shall we? This dish is my all time favorite dish to make and eat, more the latter though .

Abalone with Dried Scallops and Mushrooms atop Snow Pea Tendrils.

Ingredients:

• 5-10 dried scallops 
• 10 abalone (about 2 per person)
• 12 dried mushrooms
• 7 cups of water (divided into 3, 2, and 2 cups)

Sauce ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp chicken broth powder
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 3 tsp cornstarch
• 3/4 cups water

 Place dreied scallops, abalone, and mushrooms in three separate bowls.

Add 2 cups of water into the bowl with the scallops and soak overnight.

They will look like this once finished soaking. Do not discard the water!

Add 2 cups of water into the abalone bowl and soak overnight.

They will look like this once finished soaking. Do not discard the water!

Add 3 cups of water into the bowl with the mushrooms. Place them stems down and soak overnight.

They will look like this once finished soaking. Do not discard the water!

Even after soaking overnight, a small part of the bottom of the mushroom stems will still be hard. Take a pair of scissors and cut off that tough part of the stem. I also like to separate the whole stem from the mushroom as I don’t like eating the stem. I keep the stems for the hubby. I know, I’m wierd. I also like to flip the mushrooms over and soak for another half an hour to make sure the whole mushroom is completely soaked. There will be black residue in the bottom of the bowl. When pouring the water from the mushroom into your pot, try not to pour any of that residue in.

Dump all of the abalone, abalone water, mushrooms, mushroom water, and scallop water into a pot to boil. Turn heat to high untill water starts to boil, then bring heat back down to medium just keeping the water at a simmer.

While that’s simmering, shred the scallops.

Dump the scallops into the pot. Turn heat back up to high. Once water starts to boil, bring heat back down to medium always keeping the water just at a  simmer.

Now add all the sauce ingredients into a bowl and mix until a smooth consistency has been achieved.

Pour the sauce into the pot. Turn the heat back up to high while stirring constantly. Once the sauce starts to boil and thicken, bring the heat back down between medium and medium-low. Cover the lid and allow the sauce to just simmer for at least 2 hours while checking on the sauce and stirring it every half an hour to make sure it is not sticking to the bottom of the pot. The abalone needs at least two hours to cook, soften, and release it’s flavors into the sauce. This dish takes a lot of time to cook but I assure you, it is all worth the wait.

Just 15 minutes before the sauce is done, stir fry or boil your vegetables and plate.

The finished sauce.

Pour the sauce over the vegetables and enjoy!

I leave you with that today. Any of you as incompetent in baking as me? What are your reasons for learning to bake? I hope you all have a fabulous week! Until next time friends and family.

Conpoy and Dried Mushroom Sauce on a Bed of Spinach

 Hello everyone. Thank you for the suggestions and tips on choosing a camera and taking good pictures. I knew I chose the right group of people to ask. I’d have to say, you guys sure do have expensive taste I think I may have to save up a bit lot before my next camera.

Anyways, I haven’t posted a recipe in a while so I thought it was time I post one. This is a sauce made with conpoy (dried scallops) and dried mushrooms that you can put on top of almost any type of veggie. I chose spinach for this post but you can use broccoli, iceberg lettuce, gai lan, whatever veggie you prefer. 

Ingredients:

• 8-12 dried scallops
• 8-12 dried Shiitake mushrooms
• 3 TBS oyster sauce
• 1 TBS sugar
• 3 tsp corn starch
• 1 tsp chicken broth powder
• 1/2 cup water

When you buy dried scallops or dried mushrooms, make sure you take them out of the bag and put them in an air-tight container such as a jar or Tupperware container. This protects them from any moisture.

Give the scallops and mushrooms a good rinse and scrub with your hands to get off any dirt.

Soak the scallops in a bowl with about one and a half cup of water overnight.

In a separate bowl, soak the mushrooms in three cups of water overnight (STEMS DOWN in the water please).

This is what they will look like once ready. If you don’t want to soak them overnight I think three to four hours should be sufficient time.

Turn the mushrooms over to soak the tops for another hour.

DO NOT dump out the mushroom and scallop water after soaking as this is where all the flavor is. Cut about 2 cm off the ends of the mushroom stems and throw the mushrooms in a pot with all the scallop and mushroom water. Bring water to a simmer. Turn heat down to medium low and allow to simmer for about half an hour.

While water is simmering, shred scallops by hand. Trust me, no need to bring out any expensive kitchen appliance as these scallops will shred very easily.

In a bowl mix together oyster sauce, chicken broth powder, corn starch, sugar and water. This is the brand of oyster sauce I usually buy. Lee Kum Kee premium oyster sauce

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until as little chunks as possible.

Turn the heat up to high, pour in the sauce while stirring constantly. Once the sauce thickens and starts to simmer, turn the heat back to low. Cover lid and let simmer for another hour. Make sure you stir about every ten minutes so the sauce does not burn or stick to the bottom of the pot.

When done, it should look something like this. It should have the consistency of ketchup except just a tad more runny. If it is too runny you can always mix a teaspoon of cornstarch with four tablespoons of water and then add that to the sauce while stirring constantly.

Have your bed of cooked vegetables ready and pour the sauce over it. I just stir fried some spinach with garlic, cooking oil and a bit of Chinese cooking wine. Once again here is my pathetic attempt (with a very bad camera )at making my dish look yummy. Until I save up the money you guys will just have to get used to these blurry pictures, sorry. Unless someone has a nicer camera they would like to donate to the LeeQie (pronounced leaky)Fund Yes, that’s one of my many wierd nicknames. How about you guys, do you have a nickname you’d like to share? Hope you enjoy this sauce if you do decide to make it.

Before I leave I just wanted to ask you to please check out this post on Mary’s blog on how to protect your blog contents from getting stolen. She has some great tips. If you have time also check out her blog and recipes, this woman sure can cook! Until next time friends and family. Have a great weekend/long weekend!