chiuchow oyster pancake 潮式煎蠔餅 - part 1

Over the years I had attempt to make Chiuchow style oyster pancake 潮式煎蠔餅. I used my intuitions from what I observed the Chiuchow hawker making them on the street in winter. I didn't get to taste them as I couldn't had afforded one. The fragrance and sights etched in my young mind and I can still recall it vividly.

Any dish involves fried oysters is challenging to achieve another other than a soggy mess. It is all about moisture control. You want to serve it pipping hot and eat it before the moisture from the succulent oyster transfer to the crusty batter. For this round I watched a few Youtube video and use the idea and techniques from a few. I know I will have to experiment myself and will likely requires a few iterations before achieving the result that I have in mind.

Costco used to have big oyster sold in container like this labeled as extra small. Over the year I observe customers like me stopped buying them as they are not extra small as advertised. In recent years they starting selling truly small oysters, so I would buy a jar from time to time. Often I cannot consume it all and some inevitably goes to waste. Not this time around as I have plans for them.

One challenge is to estimate the oyster to batter ratio. I didn't want a lot of batter, so I leaned on the side with more oyster versus batter.

I drained the juice and use the liquid for making the batter in addition to some water

I used a mix of scallion and spring onion from my yard

also chopped cilantro is a must for this dish

The batter consists of:

• flour
• potato starch
• salt
• fish sauce
• white pepper
• one egg
• water

The oysters, chipped cilantro, and chopped green onions are all mixed together.

all ready to be fried in a mild steel pan with plenty of oil

It tasted quite good, but is a bit soggy than I'd like. I know I have too much oysters with respect to the batter. Next time I would change the ratio, and adjust my techniques.

As soon as I tasted this first try I immediately knew what I need to do to improve next time. I was stuffed having this big serving. But for the sake of culinary art I was undeterred. I want to try out the idea that I have to improve it, so I proceed to make a small serving, modifying the procedure a bit.

This time around I lightly cooked the oysters to expel the excess juice. The juice is used to add to the liquid making the batter. As the oyster shrinks quite a bit from the pre-cooking this also reduce the oyster to batter ratio. I also leant that it need quite a bit of seasoning (i.e. salt or fish sauce). Lastly I added a few table spoons of panko to the mixture just before frying. The result is much improved.

One most important thing with this dish for sure, is that you want as small oysters as you can afford and get. Big oysters are just no good for this dish. Another tips is don't make a big serving. You want to consume it fast and it is an exercise of racing against the clock before it goes soggy right in front of your eyes. Definitely want no leftovers.

with this additional test serving I was absolutely bursting at the seams; there is no running liquid this time around

I should confess that I used some poetic license in writing this post. Chiuchow style oyster pancake as well as the Fujian style are soft that is soggy. The one like I did has a Hong Kong Cantonese touch to it that it is crunchy on the outside but succulent inside.