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Taiwanese Oyster Omelet recipe (or Taiwanese Oyster Pancake)

March 24, 2015 by Jennifer Che 24 Comments

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I am so excited to announce that I am featured on the front page of the Food section of the Boston Globe today (!).

I was thrilled and in utter disbelief when they contacted me about two weeks ago asking if I was interested in being featured. They said they were especially interested in my Taiwanese background and wanted to feature Taiwanese cuisine, which is a bit more unusual.

The writer Brooke came over to my home and we cooked Taiwanese food together. A Globe photographer, Lane, also came and took tons of photos. It was surreal. And yes, that’s why I was working so hard to clean up my kitchen a couple weeks ago.

The article focuses on my Taiwanese roots and includes a recipe for the comforting Taiwanese meat sauce that Brooke and I made together.

In honor of the publication of the article, I thought it would be fun to make one of the most famous, iconic, and classic Taiwanese street dishes around: the Taiwanese Oyster Omelet.
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Known as “ô-á-chian” [SAY “uh-ah jen”] (蚵仔煎), which literally means oyster pan-fry, this small dish is especially popular in the night markets of Taiwan. You’ll see people frying these up in open air stalls using fresh, local Taiwanese oysters (which are much, much smaller than the ones we’re used to seeing in the U.S.).
wpid17628-DSC1139.jpg
They key ingredient (aside from oysters, of course) is sweet potato starch, which you can easily find in Asian grocery stores. I have seen them in both Chinese and Korean grocery stores.  Of course, there’s also Amazon (affiliate link). The sweet potato starch gives the omelet its characteristic gelatinous, slight chewy “QQ” (as Taiwanese like to call it) texture. It’s my favorite part of the oyster omelet.

I like this recipe because it’s super easy, tasty, and came from Taiwanese moms in America who wrote the book Homestyle Cooking of Taiwan, my favorite source for Taiwanese recipes (updated version of the book available here).

There are two ways you can make the pancake. You can either mix together the egg with the sweet potato starch at the beginning (resulting in a more consistent looking omelet), or cook the two parts separately, resulting in more interesting textural contrast between “eggy” bits and gelatinous sweet potato starch bits. After trying both ways, I decided I preferred cooking them separately, but I’ll show you both (since they’re both still really tasty).
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Mix together sweet potato starch with water. The ratio is essentially 1/2 cup sweet potato starch for every 1 cup of water and 2 eggs. Multiply according to how many pancakes/omelets you want to make (rule of thumb: approximately one egg per omelet). Add salt, white pepper, and optionally garlic powder.
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I decided to make two omelets, so I whisked together 1/2 cup sweet potato starch with 1 cup of water. If you’re not confident about the freshness of your oysters, you may want to quickly stir fry them first. If you don’t mind them being slightly raw-ish, feel free to cook everything together. I just threw my oysters right into the starch batter.

Because Taiwanese oysters tend to be much smaller than U.S. oysters, this recipe works better with smaller oyster pieces. If your oysters are too big, cut them into bite-sized pieces, about 1 to 1.5 inches wide.
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Make your omelets one at a time.

Heat up your wok really hot (on high!) and then add the oil. Make sure to be reasonably generous, since you don’t want it to stick. High temperature cooking oil like grapeseed oil is preferable, but canola oil worked fine for me. Add one serving of the batter (in my case, half of the bowl) and let it sizzle for 10-15 seconds. Lower the heat to medium. After about 5 minutes (or when the batter looks cooked and is gelatinous/clear), add the green leafy vegetables. I used spinach, but you can use Taiwanese lettuce (A-choy), chrysanthemum greens (tong hao), or other quick cooking greens.

Add one egg and mix it around a bit if you want. You can leave the yolk whole too, if you prefer a slightly runnier yolk.
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Flipping is challenging! A real pro would be able to flip it effortlessly probably with just some slick wrist action on the wok. I resorted to using a spatula, and still sort of made a mess, albeit a beautiful, glorious, tasty-looking mess.
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Frankly, it almost doesn’t matter how ugly it looks underneath, because you’ll slather it with sweet chili sauce and fresh cilantro anyway.

Yum . . . .

And if you are really short on time and just feel like mixing the eggs and the sweet potato starch batter all together at once, that works too.
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It’s neater and easier to deal with, but the end result tastes more uniform. It still has a super soft, slightly springy gelatinous texture from the sweet potato starch, but it’s not quite the same.wpid17653-DSC1163.jpg
Honestly, both omelets were delicious. I do prefer the version that separates the eggs and sweet potato starch, mostly because of the interesting textural differences.

If you don’t want to deal with oysters, you can easily make this dish vegetarian by omitting the oysters (it will taste different, but will still be good). I can imagine it tasting pretty good with cooked mushrooms! You can experiment and substitute other seafood as well. Ideally, from a textural perspective, oysters work the best because they have a similar texture – that slight gelatinous, gooeyness – that works well with the rest of the omelet.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for a few more posts with some really simple, everyday home cooking recipes, courtesy of my mom. 🙂

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Taiwanese Oyster Omelet Recipe (or Taiwanese Oyster Pancake)
Recipe Type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Taiwanese
Author: Adapted from Homestyle Cooking of Taiwan by Jennifer Che
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 20 mins
Serves: 2 omelets
This classic Taiwanese street dish is Taiwan’s version of a seafood omelet pancake made with sweet potato starch, eggs, and oysters. The recipe below makes two omelets. Multiply amounts accordingly
Ingredients
  • 6-8 small, raw oysters ( or 3-4 big ones, chopped into 1 inch pieces)
  • 1/2 cup sweet potato starch
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/3 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp vegetable oil (e.g., grapeseed oil)
  • 1 cup raw green leafy vegetable (e.g., Taiwanese A-choy, baby spinach, chrysanthemum leaves / tong hao)
  • 2 eggs
  • sweet chili sauce
Instructions
  1. Rinse oysters in water and drain.
  2. Mix together sweet potato starch, water, salt, white pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl and whisk together until well combined. Add oysters to batter.
  3. Add oil to wok set on high heat.
  4. Add half the batter to the wok allowing it to sizzle briefly (about 10 seconds). Lower the heat to medium and let set until the starch pancake is translucent (about 5 minutes). Optionally flip halfway through.
  5. Add half of the leafy greens.
  6. Break one egg into the wok, optionally spreading the yolk around. When the egg is set, flip the entire pancake around. Don’t worry if it breaks (these are hard to flip!). Cook for another minute or so, and then remove from the wok.
  7. Add sweet chili sauce and freshly chopped cilantro as garnish.
  8. Serve!
3.3.3070

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Filed Under: Appetizer, Asian, Chinese Recipes, Cuisine, Recipe, Seafood, Taiwanese

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Comments

  1. julie says

    March 25, 2015 at 3:33 am

    Congrats on the wonderful feature!! How cool to read a little bit more about you, your life, and background. I actually just returned from a short trip to Taipei (my first time there in over ten years), which my husband and I visited mainly to eat. 🙂 Looking forward to the upcoming homestyle recipes!

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      March 25, 2015 at 10:36 am

      Thanks so much! I haven’t been to Taiwan since 2011. It’s really time to return!

      Reply
  2. Eva @ Eva Bakes says

    March 25, 2015 at 6:21 am

    This is one of my favorite Taiwanese dishes! I always have to eat it when I go back to visit Taiwan. I haven’t mustered up the courage to try making it on my own though. I hope to change that soon!

    Reply
  3. Joy says

    March 25, 2015 at 8:49 am

    Jen, that is so awesome that you’re in the Globe today! I read the article and loved it!

    Oyster omelets are one of my dad’s favorite dishes; I’ll have to try to make it for him some day. =)

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      March 25, 2015 at 10:37 am

      Thanks!! I was surprised how easy it was, really. It’s been years since I’ve had one in Taiwan, though, so I can’t really tell you how close this one is to a street version. 🙂 But I like it. 🙂

      Reply
      • Joy says

        May 16, 2015 at 6:34 am

        Hi Jen, where did you get the oysters? Did you shuck them yourself or buy them already shucked?

        Reply
        • Jennifer Che says

          May 16, 2015 at 2:09 pm

          I would have LOVED to have shucked them myself. I heard Wegman’s will do it for you, actually, and the prices are reasonable. I just bought a refrigerated tub of pre-shucked oysters from HMart in Cambridge. 🙂

          Reply
          • Joy says

            May 16, 2015 at 4:15 pm

            Okay, last question (I hope!): what do I do with the salt, white pepper, and garlic powder?

          • Jennifer Che says

            May 16, 2015 at 10:34 pm

            Oops, sorry I didn’t get back to you in time! Looks like you already made it. You mix the salt, white pepper, and garlic powder together into the yam starch mixture. I will update the recipe. Thanks!

  4. Nina Simonds says

    March 25, 2015 at 10:26 am

    MAZEL TOV, Jennifer!!! I am SO PROUD of you k your amazing work!! I knew when I met you as a little girl, that like the rest of your family, you were very special!!
    Somehow, my computer ( probably the cloud) erased your direct contact info., but I am THRILLED a for you!!

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      March 25, 2015 at 10:38 am

      Nina, THANK YOU! The Globe writer told me she talked to you on the phone. Thanks so much for sharing the stories about my mom. 🙂 We’ll have to get together again sometime!

      Reply
  5. Sharon Bishop says

    March 25, 2015 at 11:00 am

    Congratulations on the Globe feature! You write an amazing blog and I love reading about all your food adventures! 🙂

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      March 25, 2015 at 1:18 pm

      Thanks Sharon!

      Reply
  6. Tiffany Vuong says

    April 16, 2016 at 4:56 am

    is it possible to use corn starch for this recipe?

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      April 18, 2016 at 5:52 pm

      I don’t think the texture will be right if you use corn starch.

      Reply
  7. Derek C. says

    March 8, 2018 at 11:54 am

    Thank you Jen, I grew up in Taiwan but end up finding your recipe and learning from you!

    Reply
  8. L says

    December 28, 2020 at 3:30 pm

    Sweet potato starch vs potato starch any difference since u mentioned foreword but on recipes says potatoes starch ty lmk
    And big congrats bg blogs

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      January 5, 2021 at 7:14 pm

      It should all be sweet potato starch. I have updated the blog accordingly. Thanks!
      Jen

      Reply
  9. B says

    January 11, 2021 at 3:23 pm

    What if no sweet potato starch ? substitute? Ty

    Reply
    • Jennifer Che says

      January 17, 2021 at 2:42 am

      Not sure, maybe try tapioca starch?

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Asian snacks says:
    September 20, 2015 at 11:44 am

    […] see much since we started college.  Kathy loves  Oyster “cake”, she swore by it and so has other Taiwanese who enjoys them in night markets there. Being an overseas Fujianese Chinese, Kathy swore they […]

    Reply
  2. Happy New Year! A Look Back at 2015 - Part I - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    May 11, 2016 at 2:26 pm

    […] newspaper article, I published a blog post on how to make the quintessential Taiwanese street food, oyster omelets! To see the online version of the article, click […]

    Reply
  3. Cheng Banzhang Taiwanese Delicacy Lai Chi Kok - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    June 27, 2019 at 12:01 pm

    […] Taiwanese meat sauce (滷肉飯), mostly because it is my comfort food and reminds me of home. The oyster pancakes are authentic and pretty good, though they don’t really compare to the best I’ve had in […]

    Reply
  4. Taiwanese Oyster Omelet (Without the Oysters) – Allen Miche says:
    September 13, 2020 at 8:24 pm

    […] it all, but the chewy, cooked oysters just get in my way.For this recipe I combined the omelet from Tiny Urban Kitchen and the red sauce from Serious Eats.  The sauce was so spot on that when I took my first bite, I […]

    Reply

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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