Steamed Abalone

Name: Steamed Abalone (Awabi No Saka Mushi )
Yield: Serves 4–6.
Cuisine: Japan
Ingredients: 1–1½ tablespoons saké (rice wine); 2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice; Wedges of lemon or lime; 2–3 fresh abalone, on the half shell, each weighing about ½ pound; ¼ cup soy sauce; 1½–2 teaspoons salt

Awabi No Saka Mushi

Preparation info

Serves
4–6
.

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

At Home with Japanese Cooking

By Elizabeth Andoh

Published 1986

About

Steamed with a minimum of seasonings, this abalone dish is delicate and tender, making it a lovely hors d’oeuvre. Prepared in this manner, it may well change the minds of many who think of abalone as rubbery and tasteless. If you can’t find abalone, try steaming shucked cherrystone clams on open half shells for only 2–3 minutes.

Ingredients

2–3 fresh abalone, on the half shell, each weighing about ½ pound
1½–2 teaspoons salt

Asia
Japan
Starter

Method

Scrub the shells lightly and rinse off any sand. Trim the abalone meat of any spongy growth around the edges. Lightly salt the abalone and place them, shell down, in a steamer. Pour ½ tablespoon of rice wine over each abalone.

Over high heat, bring the water in the bottom of your steamer to