chiuchow oyster pancake 潮式煎蠔餅 - part 2

Based from the few improvement ideas that I had I made a small serving of Chiuchow oyster pancake 潮式煎蠔餅 for breakfast.  The holy grail for me is to achieve one with complex texture and mouth feel, that is crunchy outside and succulent inside without overcooking the oyster.



The enhanced technique today is how I apply the panko. Rather than mixing the panko into the batter, I add the panko during the frying. I don't want the panko to be inside the batter/oyster mix. This is how I did it.

I did everything the same as yesterday, and paying attention not to have too much oysters. Oyster will continue to release juice while being cooked. This is one most important insight into doing any dish involving frying oysters.

What I did this time is I sprinkled 1/2 of the panko into the hot oil in the pan before pouring in the batter/oyster mixture. This forms the panko outer layer on this side. I wait for the pancake to fry a while, then sprinkle the remaining 1/2 of the panko on the top. Then I flipped the pancake over to fry the second side. This forms a layer of panko outside both sides, giving that crunchy texture outside.

It is important to serve the first side up as it will alway look better than the second side.

you can see the flaky panko bits on the plate

not any trace of liquid that would ruin the crunchiness

It is delicious. For fried oyster pancake 煎蠔餅, the prefer oyster size is smaller the better. I always prefer smaller oysters as they taste better without the big fat body that has too much protein unless you really eat in moderation.

I could not resist making another serving later in the day. Still I tried a couple of incremental small tweaks. I added some hot chili flakes to the batter. I also cut way back the potato starch and add a small amount of baking powder. I added small amount of cooking oil to the batter as well before folding the chopped scallion and cilantro in. I use no egg at all in today's versions. Egg only tends to make it soggy, I reasoned.

To recap the revised ingredients for the batter:

• flour
• baking powder
• cooking oil
• potato starch (I might delete this next time)
• salt
• fish sauce
• white pepper
• hot chili pepper flakes
• Chinese five spices (tiny bit)
• water
• panko

look at all those crunchy bits of panko

I found this Mexican hot sauce goes well with it as condiment

I like this cheap Mexican hot sauce people for taco

there are only five oysters in the pancake

If I were served this in my Asian travel I would be so impressed and want to come home and replicate it. By saving the oyster juice for the batter the pancake is flavorful as it should be.