Cucumaria is an invertebrate marine animal that lives in the Barents, Okhotsk and Japan seas. Residents of the Far East call cucumaria "sea cucumber" and consider it a real delicacy, since it contains vitamins, minerals, proteins and amino acids.
The most common recipe using a unique animal cucumaria is a meat scraper. Also cucumaria can be fried with onions, carrots and seasoned with sauce. To prepare a scrap of meat, you will need:
- 500 g cucumaria;
- 500 meat;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- 1 tbsp. l. tomato paste;
- 1 tbsp. l. flour;
- soy sauce;
- garlic;
- lemon;
- spices, salt (to taste).
It is best to purchase cucumaria fresh frozen, boil it immediately, cool and freeze it in the refrigerator, and then use it as needed.
Keep in mind that cucumaria takes a very long time to cook, so if you want to serve it to the dining table, you need to cook it overnight. "Sea cucumber" is cooked for about 4 hours.
Defrost the purchased cucumaria, rinse, then put in a saucepan, pour boiling water over it and bring to a boil over high heat. Be sure to skim off the foam while cooking. Add salt, spices to your taste to the dish and cook over low heat for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, turn off the cucumaria and leave on the hot plate overnight. In the morning, drain the broth from the pan, cut the meat into strips or cubes and simmer until tender, lightly salting.
Add the onion, chopped into rings, a spoonful of flour, tomato paste to the cucumaria, stir and continue to simmer until the contents of the pan are half evaporated. Remove from heat and let the sea cucumber sit for 60 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the meat. Cut the meat into pieces the same size as the cucumaria. Fry over low heat, then add to a saucepan, stir with tomato, a little water and continue simmering. The braising time will depend on the type of meat you use: pork - 40 minutes, chicken - 30 minutes, beef - 60 minutes.
The meat should be braised until tender. After that, you can add cooked "sea cucumber", seasonings and peppers to taste, as well as soy sauce and 3 cloves of garlic crushed in a garlic press. Simmer for another 3 minutes, then let sit for 30 minutes for the dish to steep.
The prepared scraper can be served as a separate dish, as well as with a side dish of potatoes or rice. You can also decorate the bottle with lemon slices.
Keep in mind that eating cucumaria helps to strengthen the immune system, has beneficial effects on the heart, liver and kidneys, normalizes the thyroid gland and endocrine system, and also increases sexual activity in men. The calorie content of the "sea cucumber" is quite small: 35 kcal per 100 g. Therefore, cucumaria dishes will appeal to all lovers of proper nutrition and a variety of diets.
