🔥Abalone sotbap (pot rice) with butter and miyeok

Sotbap is rice cooked in its own pot with whatever you put on top, served straight from the pot. This one is abalone, a little miyeok (seaweed) and butter, and the trick is mincing the abalone guts into the rice, which is where the deep sea flavor comes from. If you've only had abalone as porridge (jeonbok-juk), this is the cooler cousin.

Serves 2 2 to 3 medium or large abalone 1 cup rice, soaked at least 1 hour 10 g dried miyeok, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes 1 tbsp unsalted butter 4 garlic cloves, minced 3 tsp soy sauce 1 egg 4 green onions, chopped 1 tbsp + 1 tsp toasted sesame oil 1 tbsp ground toasted sesame seeds 1. Scrub the abalone shells and flesh with a brush. Slide the back of a spoon in from the pointed end to free the flesh without breaking the intestine. 2. Cut off the mouth and hard tooth at the tip and rinse. Trim the small raised bit on top of the intestine (it can hold grit), rinse, and mince it finely. Slice the flesh into thick flat pieces. 3. Squeeze and chop the miyeok, then mix it with 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil. 4. Heat a stone pot (or any heavy pot) over medium-high for about 5 minutes. Add 1 tbsp sesame oil and the garlic, then the minced intestine for 1 minute, the miyeok for another minute, and the drained rice for 2–3 minutes until it looks a bit translucent. 5. Add 3/4 cup water and the remaining 2 tsp soy sauce, stir, cover, and cook on medium for 7 minutes. Give it one stir around the 3 minute mark so it doesn't stick. 6. Put the butter in the middle, lay the abalone slices on top, turn the heat to low and cook another 7 minutes. Check the rice and give it a few more minutes if it's still firm. 7. Off the heat, crack the egg into the center, scatter green onions and sesame, cover, and bring the pot to the table. Mix everything together at the table so the egg cooks in the heat. It's fancy without being hard, which makes it the shell-ebrity of weeknight dinners.