Paua

Ingredients

Pāua

• 4pāua, shucked, or 400 g pāua meat

Fritter batter

• 3eggs
• 3 tbspplain flour
• 1onion, very finely chopped
• salt and white pepper
• 1 tbspchopped parsley

To cook

• butter and oil, for frying

To serve

• lemon wedges
• buttered bread
• a green salad

Equipment

• a meat mallet, or a mincer

Directions

1. Take only what the rules allow, only at legal size, and know that black-market pāua is a real and prosecuted problem in New Zealand. The iridescent blue-green shell is carved into eyes for Māori figures and into jewellery, and it is never thrown away.
2. Trim off the dark frilly skirt, the gut and the hard mouth parts, keeping only the pale muscular foot. Clean it thoroughly and scrub the black membrane off the foot with a stiff brush and salt.
3. Beat the cleaned foot with a mallet until it is visibly flattened and relaxed. Beat it firmly but do not shred it, working evenly across the surface.
4. Mince it coarse rather than fine. Pāua fritters should have visible pieces and a chew, not be a smooth paste. Mix the minced pāua with the eggs, flour, finely chopped onion, parsley and seasoning.
5. Use just enough flour to bind. This is a pāua fritter, not a batter fritter, and the mixture should be mostly meat.
6. Let the mixture stand 15 minutes so the flour hydrates. Heat butter and oil in a heavy pan over a medium-high heat. Drop spoonfuls in and flatten them slightly into rounds about 1 cm thick. Cook 1 to 2 minutes a side, no longer.
7. Take them off the moment the second side sets. They should be just set through, dark grey-green inside, and still tender. Serve immediately with lemon and buttered bread. The alternative approach is the slow one: whole pāua simmered gently for two to three hours until tender, which some cooks prefer.

Technique

• Check current recreational limits before gathering, because they vary by region and change.
• Tinned pāua is sold in New Zealand and is already tenderised and cooked.
• It freezes reasonably well once tenderised.

Substitutions

• Tinned or frozen pāua, which saves the shucking and tenderising.
• Any abalone, or squid at a distance, which needs the same fast-or-slow rule.

Variations

• Simmered slowly for hours rather than fried fast.
• Curried, as pāua curry.
• Sliced paper-thin and eaten raw as sashimi, where it is very fresh.

History

The iridescent shell is carved into eyes for Maori figures; the meat is limited by strict recreational quotas after decades of overharvesting.

Frequently asked questions

What is Paua?

Paua is a main from New Zealand: black-shelled abalone minced into fritters, chewy and deeply oceanic. The iridescent shell is carved into eyes for Maori figures; the meat is limited by strict recreational quotas after decades of overharvesting.

How long does Paua take to make?

Paua takes 30 min of preparation and 10 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Paua?

Yes, within limits. Tinned or frozen pāua, which saves the shucking and tenderising. Any abalone, or squid at a distance, which needs the same fast-or-slow rule.

What is the most important thing to get right in Paua?

Take only what the rules allow, only at legal size, and know that black-market pāua is a real and prosecuted problem in New Zealand. The iridescent blue-green shell is carved into eyes for Māori figures and into jewellery, and it is never thrown away.