Broccoli with Mushroom and Abalone (Optional Sea Cucumber & Fatt Choy)

A luxurious dish; one doesn't just cook this dish on any ordinary day. It is only on special occasions like birthdays or festive seasons like the Chinese New Year that I cook this dish. It is a very simple dish to cook; the process involves braising the mushrooms, sea cucumber and baby abalones (if they are not already ready to serve) and blanching the broccoli.


Ingredients:

• 18 pieces medium sized Shiitake mushrooms
• 1 head of broccoli
• 1 can of ready-to-serve baby abalone (10 pieces)
• For festive season, add
• 1-2 pieces sea cucumber
• Prepare them 5 days in advance by soaking them till they are about 4 times the size of the dried ones and removing the entrails.
• Fatt choy, the amount depends on you.
• Put them into a sieve and run the tap water onto them.
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tbsp light
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1 tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp corn flour plus some water for thickening of sauce.

Method:

• Soak the Shiitake mushrooms for about 3 hours till they are plumped up. Remove the stems.

• Wash and cut the broccoli into florets. Soak them for about 30 minutes.

• Open 1 can of ready-to-serve baby abalones. Separate the abalones from the sauce. Keep the sauce for later use.

• Cut the sea cucumber diagonally about 1 1/2 cm wide.

• Heat up the wok with cooking and sesame oil.

• Saute the garlic till they are fragrant.

• Add the mushrooms and saute the mushrooms till they are fragrant.

• Add the chicken broth and abalone sauce into the wok. Let is boil.

• Add sea cucumber.

• Add the seasonings - light and dark soy sauce, salt and white pepper powder.

• Cover the wok and let the mushrooms and sea cucumber braise in the sauce over very low fire till they are both soft.

• While the mushrooms and sea cucumber are being braised, prepare the broccoli.
• Boil a pot of water and prepare a pot of cold water.
• Add the broccoli florets into the pot of boiling water. Blanch them for about 5-8 minutes.
• Remove the florets and dunk them into the pot of cold water to stop them from cooking further.

• When the mushrooms and sea cucumber have softened, remove them from the sauce.

• Add in the baby abalones to heat up. Remove them immediately once they are hot.

• Add in the fatt choy.

• Let the sauce boil.

• Add the corn flour water to thicken the sauce.

• Arrange the broccoli florets, mushrooms and baby abalones on a serving plate.

• Pour the sauce over them.

• The dish is ready for serving.