Oyster Omelette 蚵仔煎

The oyster omelette is a favorite in Taiwan and Southern China. It is relatively easy to make. The following recipe and photo comes from Vegesoup & Photodog.



Ingredients: fresh oysters, sweet potato flour, leafy greens, eggs.

In Asia, small oysters are more popular; they are milder in taste. The oysters in the photo are large American oysters which take longer to cook and have a strong fishy taste.

1. (optional) Clean the oysters. If you like raw oysters, you probably wouldn't worry too much about cleaning them. But if you care to, one way to clean them is to rub them with all-purpose flour and rinse them off thoroughly.

2. Grill the oysters with some cooking oil. It is your choice to make them rare, medium or fully cooked. Traditionally, they are prepared well-done.

3. Toss in the greens and stir fry with a little bit of salt. Taiwanese bok-choy is shown in the photo.

4. Mix equal amounts of water and sweet potato flour thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the pan; salt lightly and continue to grill. Stir the mixture frequently to make sure it does not stick to the pan. About 3 oz of flour and 3 oz of water are used in this 12-inch pan. You can substitute tapioca flour for sweet potato flour.

5. Add 2 or 3 eggs and grill until omelette takes shape.

In Taiwan, the oyster omelette is typically served with a pink sauce, which is more or less a mixture of miso paste and ketchup. You can add plum sauce to make it a little bit sour, or any red chili sauce to make it hot.

Vegesoup's Sweet Stuffed Lotus Root

Chef Panzee's first recipe is contributed by Vegesoup.



The stuffed lotus root is a Shanghai specialty; it is typically served as dessert or appetizer. The preparation is rather simple, however, it takes a long time.

Ingredients: lotus root, sticky rice, rock sugar, honey

Equipment: knife, peeler, small skewers or large toothpicks, chopsticks, steamer, pan

Procedure:

1. Soak sticky rice in water for at least 4 hours. No skills required. Even a chimp can do it.

2. Peel the lotus root and cut off the ends; save the ends.



3. Fill the lotus root with sticky rice. Pack the rice tightly with a chopstick.

4. Reattach the ends of the lotus root with toothpicks to seal the sticky rice.



5. Steam the stuffed lotus root for one to four hours. The duration is entirely up to you.

6. Boil the stuffed lotus root for two hours or longer. You can steam longer and boil shorter or vice versa. If you like crispy, then boiler shorter.



7. Chill the stuffed lotus root and slice.

8. Make a syrup by melting rock sugar and honey. Or you can substitute any syrup of your choice. You can coat the chilled lotus root with syrup. Or you can boil the stuffed lotus root with the syrup. Or you can do both.



The sweet stuffed lotus root is ready to be served.