This is another one of those dishes that look and feel like a high-end restaurant dish but in reality, it is an easy stir-fry dish! It’s one of my mom’s favorites, mainly because she loves sea cucumbers!
TBH I never cooked sea cucumbers before – I remember my mom preparing them (when I was a kid) and it took a long time – several rounds of rinsing and boiling to get the fishy smell and slimy feel… but like my mom, I love sea cucumbers! So imagine my delight when the local specialty market started offering frozen, ready-to-cook sea cucumbers!!! The price was a bit high (but hey, they had to do all the work so it was fine by me!)
Saute some ginger until fragrant. Sear the scallops on both sides, cooking until just done. Remove from the pan.
In the same pan, saute some sliced onions, garlic, and ginger until fragrant. Add mushrooms (your choice of fresh mushrooms!) and a dash of soy sauce and rice wine. Stir-fry a couple of minutes. Add the sliced sea cucumbers, another dash of soy sauce and rice wine, stirring the mixture together. Season with a tablespoon or two of abalone sauce and Cook a couple of minutes more, adjusting the taste as needed (for our taste I just added ground white pepper).
Transfer the mushrooms and sea cucumbers to a serving plate (leave some sauce in the pan to pour over the whole dish later). Arrange the scallops decoratively on top of the mushroom-sea cucumber mix. Pour the reserved sauce over the whole dish.
Enjoy!!!
Chopsuey at Halo–Halo ni Lucille 