Crab and Abalone Congee
It's that time of year again for crab season. Hairy crabs are already showing up on social media, but it's worth waiting a little longer for those—so let's start with swimming crabs in the meantime. A friend had been asking me every day where to find a good claypot porridge, and I got a bit tired of hearing about it, so I decided to make one myself. As you can guess, they finished every last drop.
Ingredients
swimming crab
2
small abalone
5
shrimp
1 plate
rice
1 small bowl
shiitake mushrooms
4
ginger shreds
3 g
cilantro
1 small handful
salt
to taste
pepper
a pinch
sesame oil
0.5 tbsp
Instructions
1
Step 1
Rinse an appropriate amount of rice clean, add a spoonful of salt and a little oil, then pour in a bit more water and soak for half an hour in advance. If eating it in the morning, just soak it the night before going to bed.
2
Step 2
Went to buy groceries early in the morning and saw that today's small abalone weren't expensive—just over four yuan each. Bought five, brought them home, and sliced them into thin strips.
3
Step 3
Add a little cooking wine, ginger shreds, and pepper to the abalone strips and marinate for a while.
4
Step 4
Cut off the shrimp heads and devein the body sections.
5
Step 5
Don't throw away the shrimp heads—they'll be useful later.
6
Step 6
Swimming crabs are plump and lovely this season. Bought two of them.
7
Step 7
Cut off the rubber bands, then use a fork to pry open the shell. A little cruel, I admit, but for the sake of eating, I'm willing to do it.
8
Step 8
The moment it was pried open, I started drooling. Hehe.
9
Step 9
See? This absolutely has to be discarded.
10
Step 10
Everything I circled needs to be removed.
11
Step 11
And this—the apron on the belly—pull it off.
12
Step 12
All cleaned up.
13
Step 13
Add a tiny bit of oil to the clay pot, add the scallion whites and scallion segments, and slowly sauté over low heat to release the aroma.
14
Step 14
Add an appropriate amount of water and bring to a boil over high heat.
15
Step 15
Add the soaked rice, bring back to a boil over high heat, then turn down to low heat and simmer slowly.
16
Step 16
When the congee is about seventy percent done, fish out the shrimp heads.
17
Step 17
Add the shiitake slices and simmer for a while.
18
Step 18
Next come the abalone strips.
19
Step 19
Then the shrimp.
20
Step 20
Finally, toss in the ginger shreds and continue cooking for four to five minutes to bring out the flavor and remove any fishiness.
21
Step 21
Look—by now the whole house is filled with fragrance.
22
Step 22
Add salt to taste.
23
Step 23
Add pepper.
24
Step 24
Add half a spoon of sesame oil.
25
Step 25
Add cilantro if you like it, or chopped scallion greens if you don't.
26
Step 26
To be honest, homemade congee is hearty and packed with good stuff, and uses less MSG and chicken bouillon. I feel like I could drink half a clay pot by myself, but in the end my friend and I finished it all between us.
27
Step 27
Life's wishes are actually quite simple. I don't hope for any unexpected windfalls—only that there won't be any unexpected troubles. That's already more than enough.
