Abalone Porridge

전복죽 [Jeon-Bok-Jook]

Min was told to restrict his diet to liquid food for the first few days following his wisdom teeth extraction last week. And, I took that chance to practice some porridge cooking.

Abalone porridge is supposed to be one of the most nutritious dish and also easy to digest, so it is often served to patients to help quick recovery. Its nutritious content is also reflected in the price. A frozen abalone with the size of half of my hand was about $9 a piece. That said, I could see Min was very impressed with this special treatment from me. :D

For 4 servings

Ingredients:

abalone (2, frozen is fine)
rice (3 cup, uncooked)
water (7 cup)
sesame oil (1 tbl)
Korean soy sauce (4 tsp, or salt instead)
salt (1 tsp)
carrots (2 tbl, chopped, optional)
scallion (1 stalk, chopped, optional)
garlic (1 clove, minced, optional)

1.

Cut abalone into small pieces.

2.

Boil them in water (7 cup).

3.

Save the broth for later.

4.

Grind the abalone. If you prefer fine texture for your porridge (e.g., to serve people with chewing problems etc), grind them to very tiny pieces. If you like it chunky, leave some there.

5.

Heat up the pot and pour over some sesame oil.

6.

Then comes ground abalone.

7.

Add (uncooked) rice. I had soaked the rice in water for 4+ hours to make it softer - that step is optional.

8.

In sesame oil, stir fry the abalone and rice over medium to high heat.

9.

When the abalone and rice are somewhat cooked (but not all the way), pour in the abalone broth from Step 3, and stir well.

10.

Meanwhile, chop carrots and scallions to add.

11.

Season the soup with Korean soy sauce and salt, or entirely with salt.

12.

Slowly stir the porridge over low to medium heat until it thickens, for about 20 minutes.

13.

Add the chopped carrots and scallion and cook for another 3 minutes or so before serving.